


my head is an animal

by allandnothing



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Idiots in Love, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Slow Burn, Werewolf!Klaus, it's just werewolves, like heavily lore-driven, lots of lore, not a metaphor for anything, the werewolf au nobody asked for, werewolves are known but not necessarily accepted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 47,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25015822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allandnothing/pseuds/allandnothing
Summary: The tells were fairly subtle, and could easily pass unobserved if you didn’t know what you were looking for, but if you worked in a busy hospital in an ever-growing metropolis as Dave did, you could find yourself with a sort of passive knowledge of them, even if you weren’t studying them actively.The sharpness in his eyes, the way his teeth were carefully tucked behind his lips, the constant twitching of his nostrils. The uncanny feeling he immediately got in his hindbrain, warning him that a predator was nearby and that he needed to beware of him.A werewolf.
Relationships: Dave/Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 151
Kudos: 185





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have,,, no explanation for this,,,,
> 
> I was sad, I wrote this, I was less sad
> 
> I hope that it makes other sad people less sad too

To the untrained eye, he might have seemed like any other guy. There wasn’t really anything odd about him, once you got over the initial shock of him. Messy hair, slouchy posture, easy smile, bright eyes. Way too tight clothes, eyeliner-rimmed eyes, something undoubtedly not straight about him. You could have said he was just any other guy, but maybe with that one spark that made him peculiar to look at, which wasn’t really that odd anymore- it was 2019 after all.

But to Dave, weary with experience, though he had barely passed 29 years of age, it was immediately clear, just after one quick look at him, from a whole ten feet away. The tells were fairly subtle, and could easily pass unobserved if you didn’t know what you were looking for, but if you worked in a busy hospital in an ever-growing metropolis as Dave did, you could find yourself with a sort of passive knowledge of them, even if you weren’t studying them actively. The sharpness in his eyes, the way his teeth were carefully tucked behind his lips, the constant twitching of his nostrils. The uncanny feeling he immediately got in his hindbrain, warning him that a predator was nearby and that he needed to beware of him. A werewolf.

Dave cleared his throat out of habit, though he didn’t need to. The guy hadn’t reacted to his presence but he knew he must’ve felt it all the way from the other room, “Hargreeves?”

He looked up at that, easy smile lazily pulling at his lips, and Dave returned it. He didn’t have that much facial hair, and he had to admit he was fairly attractive too. Had he not been a doctor trained in lycanthropology he was sure he would have completely passed as human and nobody would have been the wiser, “I’m Doctor Katz, please follow me.”

The guy started making small talk as they made their way to Dave’s office, chatting him up about anything and everything, and he filled in the gaps with well-placed _well I’m glad to hear that,_ and _yeah it’s really nice this time of year_. He couldn’t tell whether the guy was nervous or simply extroverted, but he didn’t mind it. It was certainly better than silence filled only by his brain trying to get him into flight or fight mode now that he was so close to a predator.

“So Mr Hargreeves-“ he started once he closed the door to the office, amused in finding the guy jumping on the examination table with a little cheerful hop as if he was on a field trip and not in a hospital.

“Please, call me Klaus,” his nose kept twitching almost obsessively, and Dave felt bad for the guy. That werewolves had enhanced sense of smell wasn’t a secret, but knowing exactly how stronger it was and how many smells and scents the guy must be getting made him wince in sympathy, “Mr Hargreeves is my father. Well, was.”

He did a little gesture in celebration, a quick peace sign that disappeared just as quickly as it had shown up, and Dave faked a cough to keep in a laugh- he was a doctor, after all, “Alright, Klaus, I see you’re in for your usual checkup?”

“I’m here for my people juice, yes,” Klaus replied in total seriousness, and here Dave did snort on a laugh.

'People juice' was probably the best way to describe what ormonebital did. Most commonly known as ‘hormone blocker’, a name which was certainly worth a body shudder, it was a similar procedure to giving someone a vaccine shot, so it wasn’t exceptionally complicated, as long as you didn’t stop to think about the history behind it. Dave didn't have the luck to be such a person and had spent hours of his time pondering the matter to the point that sometimes the mere name of the medicine would sound foreign on his tongue, having thought about it way too much.

Ormonebital had different doses, the base one being offered for free by the health system, but their aim was the same: suppress the most animalistic traits of werewolves. Back when werewolves were first allowed to be treated like actual people- Dave knew for a fact he was alive and conscious by the time humans finally got their act together and decided to be so kind as to give werewolves some sort of rights, so it wasn’t that far back- the government had decided that if werewolves were to be accepted into society there had to be limits, and those limits apparently consisted on making them look as human as possible. Hairy, scary, gruffly men roaming the subways and train stations just couldn’t do, so they worked day and night to create a medicine that could make them look as close to an average person as possible, an effort Dave had yet to see replicated by the government in any other field, and thus the ormonebital was born.

Had he had enough strength to get political he would have pointed out that its existence went beyond the mere kindness of heart of the people in power, and that it had more to do with the belief that if something didn't look and act like you then it had to be inherently wrong, but just thinking about it was tiring enough for him. The point was this: twice a year, each werewolf in town had to go to Dave, or any other doctor for the matter, to get their ‘people juice’ shot. Most got the base shot, as they couldn’t afford anything stronger than that, or simply didn't want an extra unnecessary dose, and some didn’t get one at all. There was no obligation in getting the shot, so the government couldn’t really do anything about this small percentage of people, but they were obviously easy to spot. If Klaus had caught Dave’s expert attention, those people were like glowing signs saying ‘w _erewolf! Look out!_ ’ in bold text. They tended to be outcast by human standards, but it didn’t matter to them: they were happy with themselves within their own community, preferring to not tamper their nature, and that was where the question ended for them, and for Dave too, if he had to be honest.

There were then people who went to the opposite end, getting the strongest shots to fully suffocate their wolf nature, managing to live the life of a normal human being their money and wealth allowed them to buy, but Dave didn’t care about those people either. All he cared about was his patient, currently sitting on his table and swinging his legs back and forth, so he decided to focus on him only.

Looking down at his files, he started going through Klaus’s record, wincing as he did so. The difference between the amount of information his hospital had on werewolves compared to humans was sickening, definitely something that Orwell would have screeched at, and Klaus seemed to tell what was bothering him because he smiled sadly, “Let me guess, usual invasive questions?”

“I’m afraid so,” Dave sighed, feeling slimy just looking down at them. He could almost relate to werewolves, the last time he had tried to donate blood had ensued so many unwarranted questions about his personal life he had to remind the nurses he was a doctor that worked in the same hospital as they did just to be able to get it over with, “I would say they’re for medical reasons but you and I both know they aren’t. I’m sorry.”

Klaus took a second to reply, and when he did his head was slightly tilted to the side, a clear sign of interest, “You know, you’re the first doctor to admit it... I like you.”

Dave beamed, then shook the feeling off. Right, time to be professional.

Lucky for him, Klaus was chatty and easy-going, so they got over the questions fairly easily and without much embarrassment ensued. He even had a snarky reply for the most invasive questions, so much that when Dave asked him if he was sexually active and Klaus replied without a beat, ‘eh, I just kind of lie there,’ he had to legitimately take a second to regain his breath before he had a lung collapse. The guy was simply a delight to be around.

The only truly awkward moment came when Dave noticed that Klaus seemed to have a history with drug use in his record, but even then the guy took it in stride with ease.

“I’ve been clear for a few of years now, but you can see for yourself,” he thumbed at the inside of his arms, showing him the old track marks on his arms, and Dave tried to focus on the matter at hand rather than marvel at the odd tattoos the guy was exhibiting.

“It’s okay, I believe you,” he told him when Klaus seemed ready to add more, “The shot wouldn’t interfere with any other drug anyway, and I’m really not qualified to take any more decisions on the matter.”

Klaus seemed to be surprised by his reply, but he recovered quickly, calm expression immediately back on his face. He imagined he had to repeat his innocence every time he had to go to the doctor, and considering Dave never really had to outright ask any other patient that kind of question when giving them what basically was as harmless as a vaccine he didn’t feel like pressing the matter any further.

“Alright, I think the worst is over,” Dave breathed out, checking the last couple of boxes on the medical file.

“Jeez, and to think you still haven’t done anything yet…”

“Oh we’ll fix that soon enough, don’t worry,” Dave reassured him, putting on a fresh pair of gloves as he approached his patient. Once he got within six feet of him he stopped, waiting for Klaus to beckon him closer with a nod as it was usual with werewolves, a habit that he was too used to to truly ponder over it. Some might find it odd, to have to properly ask the patient to touch them before doing so, and some might even frown at the implications of the whole process, but he merely thought of it as a medical procedure like any other. Some of his patients didn’t want to be attended by a male doctor, some didn’t want to shake his hand and preferred to just place theirs over their chest, and some happened to be werewolves who had to actively let him known he was welcome to approach them and that they were no threat for him. Same old, same old.

After Klaus had allowed him closer, he set himself to work, letting his hands do most of the job on auto-pilot. He checked Klaus’s heart rate- quicker than a human’s, and still surprising to feel after all those years-, his ears, his sharp teeth- he still wasn’t too sure why _he_ was the one who had to check them and not actual dentists, but he didn’t mind-, and allowed himself to marvel at his eyes as he shone a light first in one and then the other.

“Your tapeta lucida are looking good, nothing to note there,” he filled in the silence as he flicked the flashlight in front of Klaus, watching his eyes glow with each ray of light.

“Thank you, I do try to take good care of them,” Klaus hummed, seemingly unbothered by the obvious interest Dave had in them. 

Listen, he was a doctor for a reason. The human body was simply amazing, and werewolves? He could sit there ranting about them for ages, that’s how much he loved his job.

When he finally got the physical examination over with, and Klaus was happily informed that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him, he reached for a syringe, preparing the shot.

“Just gonna lift this up a second,” he told Klaus, letting him know what he was doing before he did it, lifting up his sleeve to his shoulder and dabbing a bit of disinfectant on his skin. Most would see that as overboard but he didn’t need to know what would happen if he surprised a werewolf and touched them without warning- one time in medical school was enough of a scare for a lifetime.

Klaus made an odd face at the disinfectant, murmuring something about him disliking the strong smell, and Dave kept himself from laughing- likeable patients like Klaus were bad news, he couldn’t let himself find examinations fun like this, he was only getting ready for a disappointment when Klaus had to eventually leave.

“Alright, I’m going to give you the shot now,” he said, amusement evident in his voice, finding the right spot on his arm to place the tip for the syringe.

“Please do, I love needles,” Klaus happily replied, and that truly made him laugh. True to his words, Klaus didn’t even flinch when the needle went in, and once he was done Dave dabbed the zone with another bit of disinfectant to keep the blood in, making Klaus properly sneeze with the smell.

“Hold on, I should have some werewolf plasters somewhere,” he murmured to himself, leaving Klaus to press the little cotton bud over his arm and walking over the cabinets to rummage through them.

“Werewolf plasters?” his patient asked, evidently not annoyed to stay there for more than entirely necessary for the visit to see what Dave had in mind. He let himself fall back on the floor, approaching Dave silently and stopped a couple of meters away in order not to scare him. Dave still did jump at his proximity, too busy in his search to realized he had moved.

“Here,” he said, proudly showing him the object of his quest with a little smile. It was a tiny plaster that really had no business being in the office of a professional doctor such as himself, small enough to obviously have been made for children, and featuring little wolves running all over its soft side. It was disgustingly adorable, “I sometimes have baby werewolves come here for their shots, and I try to make the experience as less traumatizing as I can, so-“

“You visit _cubs_?” Klaus squealed, reaching over to better see the plaster. There was really no need for it, Dave could have easily just taped the cotton to his arm, but what was the point of being a doctor if he didn’t get to be nice to people for no reason every once in a while? “This is tremendously cute, thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” Dave chocked out, suddenly emotional for some odd reason. He handed the little plaster over to Klaus to let him put it on his arm himself. He still hadn’t figured out why werewolves didn’t like people touching them when they were bleeding but he knew enough to not attempt to put it on himself.

“That was really nice of you,” Klaus said, then looked down at Dave’s chest with a spark in his eyes that made Dave blush, “David.”

Dave looked down at his own chest, finding his nametag there. Oh, right. Why was he blushing, again?

“Please, call me Dave,” he easily replied, then thought back to what Klaus had told him earlier, “David was my father.”

He realized too late what he had said, and now Klaus was bemusedly looking at him, placing his new adorable plaster over his arm without taking his eyes off of him, “Your father’s name was also David?”

“No, I actually have no idea why I said that,” Dave replied in all honesty, and Klaus only became even more bemused. He had no idea why he seemed to find him so funny, and why they had that easy chemistry between the two of them, but he now felt an odd ache in the stomach at the realization that the visit was now over, and that he wouldn’t see Klaus again for another six months- _if_ he ever got to be his doctor again.

“Well, Dave, thank you,” Klaus told him almost solemnly, pulling his sleeve back over his plastered arm, careful to not unstick it as he went, “I hope you’ll be the one to ask me unnecessarily invasive questions next time I have to get my government-issued people juice.”

“Likewise,” Dave told him in mock seriousness, and with that Klaus was gone, leaving him with a smile on his lips and an odd ache in his chest. Huh. He probably ought to have that checked…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are we feeling about s2 lads?? I'm feeling highly anxious, I'm not going to lie, which is why I'm posting this before it comes out lol
> 
> But enough about me, how did you guys like this so far? Would you be on board with more? That is a trick question, I already wrote more, HA! This was but one of my many coping mechanisms during quarantine and if I don't post it all I will feel like it was only a waste of time, so get ready for more [shenanigans](https://www.tiktok.com/@billyt2021/video/6770508921766415622?lang=it)
> 
> But in all seriousness, do let me know what you think so far, I love feedback :) love you guys stay safe and wear a mask xx


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder to check the tags, there be blood in here. It's nothing extremely graphic but better safe than sorry

He hadn't really expected to see Klaus again, but it seemed as if the universe liked to prove him wrong whenever it had the chance to.

It’s not like he had actively looked forwards to it, let’s be clear. Werewolves were known for being immune to almost all human diseases, and to only need medical attention for their bi-yearly shots of ormonebital, and his hospital didn’t help matters either, assigning him different patients whenever they felt like it, so the chances of meeting that one particular patient again were minimal.

It didn’t matter how much Klaus had struck to him, and it _certainly_ didn’t matter how much his co-workers seemed to think there had been some sort of spark between the two of them.

“What are you smiling so much for?” Hazel had asked him as soon as he had entered the break room that day, too much in a good mood to consciously wipe away the obvious little grin he knew was on his face. Hazel had only probed him further, evidently not getting why a guy would be so happy in a place like that, “Did the Handler fall over again? Did you get it on camera this time?”

“What? No,” Dave had started making himself a coffee on autopilot, ignoring the obvious stares of his co-workers burning through his coat, “It’s just some patient I just visited, he was a fun guy.”

“He?” Cha-Cha had then slid into the conversation, exchanging a meaningful glance with Hazel at her side, “You didn’t go and get yourself a crush on a patient, did you?”

“And a werewolf, no less,” Hazel had commented, scrunching up his nose in amusement.

“I have no clue how you can smell it, I barely touched him!” Dave had exclaimed, trying to derail what had been moulding out to be a terrible, terrible line of thoughts for him, but it had been too late.

“But I bet you wanted to, didn’t you?” Cha-Cha had joked, obviously with the sole purpose of riling him up, but the damage had been done. 

It had now been two weeks since Klaus’s visit, and the two hadn’t yet dropped the topic. It certainly didn’t help that Hazel kept firmly assuring both he and Cha-Cha that Dave definitely had a crush as he, according to him, could _smell_ that sort of thing, but Dave still tried his best to not let it get to him. He was nearing his 30s and he hadn’t found anyone to share his life with, if his co-workers liked to imagine a world where he was suave enough to make advances on people he deemed interesting enough why stop them?

But we’re getting off-topic.

It had now been two weeks after Klaus’s visit, that much was clear, but it was also the day after that month’s full moon. If there was any sort of spike in the number of werewolves that came to ER, that couple of days after the full moon was it. There wasn’t a huge number of werewolves around the hospital- not that their demographic amounted to millions anyway- but they were definitely more than any other day of the month, whether it was due to some injury they had somehow gotten during the full moon, or whether it simply had been their very first one, and they now needed medical attention to deal with the aftermaths of it. Dave could never come close to understanding what it was like, but he guessed having one’s whole body reassembled into a different species wasn’t particularly fun.

What was fun was watching all of the werewolves in the room tilt their heads to their sides whenever an ambulance left the hospital, but he would never admit that out loud. He was a professional, after all.

“Hey, Shaun Ellis,” Cha-Cha suddenly appeared to his side, an odd smile pulling at her lips. She had what looked like a fisherman’s hook the size of a shoe on a silver tray held between her gloved hands, and Dave had to tend to one too many people who had gotten a step too far in the bedroom to ask where she had gotten that from, “Your crush is back.”

Dave frowned, legitimately confused. The old man in the corner tilted his head a whole ninety degrees to the left when an ambulance passed by, “Idris Elba is in the hospital?”

Cha-Cha didn’t look amused in the least, “The werewolf. He’s back, and he’s asking after you.”

Something made a flip inside Dave’s chest. Judging by the sudden shortness of breath that overcame him it might have been a lung. Leaving Cha-Cha with her hook, he made his way to his office, his heart having no business beating as hard as it was.

Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? It was just a patient like any other, what was wrong with him?

His heart stopped hammering in his chest only when he reached the office and opened it with a good layer of fake calm, and it immediately went back to its now default palpitations when he set his eyes on Klaus. Literally what the hell was up with him?

“Hey,” he breathed out, closing the door behind his back. Klaus seemed odd that day, almost concerned, which was a strange look on him. He hadn’t known the guy enough to say but he guessed it wasn’t in his nature to worry. His face surely didn’t look to be fit for it, “Everything okay? I’ve been told you-“

“Dave, not to sound dramatic but I’m kind of freaking out here,” Klaus cut him off without preambles, tone firm but tense. His sleeves were pulled down to his hands, and he wouldn’t have thought much of it if he wasn’t almost compulsively twisting and turning the edges of it, so Dave guessed whatever the problem was it had something to do with that, “I’m sorry to bother you, I know you have lots of work to do but I don't really know anyone here and I feel like I can trust you and-"

“What is it?” Dave decided to go straight to the point, both to save Klaus the nerves of having to go through an explanation of what seemed to be a completely legitimate concern, both because his brain had decided to lace onto the ‘I feel like I can trust you’ bit of Klaus’s speech with more obsession than he would’ve liked.

Breathing out a sigh, Klaus shuffled a bit closer to Dave, still maintaining the usual six feet distance werewolves seemed to be born to subconsciously follow, and pulled his sleeves up over his elbows. Dave couldn’t help the gasp that escaped him at the sight of his arms.

Long messy cuts were smattered all around Klaus’s wrists and forearms up to the crook of his elbow. They varied in depth and length but they all seemed to stem from the same sort of brute force. Blood had begun to clump and dry haphazardly on them, pressed all over Klaus’s skin in a way that suggested that he had covered them in bandages as soon as he had gotten them and uncovered them only once he had reached the hospital. Some of the deepest cuts had an identifiable pattern to them, not in any way geometrical, but still with enough of a defined shape for Dave to immediately realize what had caused them.

“Klaus, where you attacked by another were?” Dave asked, eyes still staring at his poor arms. It was obvious that the cuts had been bitten in by another werewolf, some patterns of them showed unmistakable teeth marks, but he had never seen a werewolf attack in his life. Regardless of what urban legends liked to tell, werewolves were fully aware of being extremely territorial, and therefore never stayed together in the same place, especially during the full moon, so there really was no occasion for them to attack one another. Not even families let themselves spend the full moon in the same room so he had no idea how Klaus could have been attacked like that.

“No, I think- I think I did this myself,” Klaus admitted, looking down at his arms smattered in red and purple, evidently as shaken by the sight as he was. Dave’s eyes left Klaus’s arms then, deciding to land on his eyes. If what he was saying was true, if Klaus’s wolf had somehow decided to attack himself, biting into his own arms with such violence until he drew blood, then there was something _really_ wrong with him, “I woke up like this.”

“Your arms were just like this after the full moon?”

Klaus did something complicated with his face, as if he didn’t want to let Dave down but still had to, “Not just my arms.”

And with that, he stepped back from Dave, enough to reach down to his ankles and lift up the hem of his trousers, enough to show a similar display on both of his legs. Dave had to grab his chin in one hand looking pensive just to avoid another gasp. This was _bad_. The cuts there weren’t as bad as his arms but still enough to not have completely dried yet. How on earth was Klaus even walking around like this?

“You bit both your arms and legs?” Dave asked purely to fill the eerie silence looming over the room, nodding to the examination table while reaching for some disinfectant.

“I didn’t do anything, my wolf did,” Klaus pointed out through gritted teeth as he heaven himself up on the table with a grimace, arms and legs held out awkwardly to try and jostle them around as little as possible.

That was another matter that werewolves were very firm on reminding other people: each full moon, they didn’t just turn into another species, they also turned into another person. Many studies had been done revealing that werewolves have absolutely no recollection whatsoever of what happens once they turn, not even on a subconscious level, leaving them with huge gaps in their memory and the uncomfortable feeling that for a certain amount of time they had no control over themselves and their actions. In both theory and practice, you couldn’t hold a werewolf accountable for something they did under the influence of the full moon. They tended to refer to the other half as ‘the wolf’, treating it like the animal they firmly insisted it was, but he had heard of less affectionate names. Judging by Klaus’s state, he guessed some of those epithets had escaped his mouth too.

Dave wasn’t too fond of referring to turned werewolves as nothing more than wolves. He had never interacted with a turned werewolf and didn’t know anyone in the medical field who had, as werewolves would never let a stranger near them in such a sensitive time, but just thinking about treating them as animals made his skin crawl. With that being said, he wasn’t going to go against Klaus’s wishes of separating the two entities.

“So he-“

“It,” Klaus easily corrected him, which Dave liked even less.

“It bit your legs and arms, pretty much mauled them,” Dave grimaced, not ready to ask the question, but knowing he had to, “Did it do anything else?”

Against every one of his inner pleas, Klaus nodded, motioning to the back of his head. He made his way around the table, careful to not get closer than he needed to, and hissed in sympathy when Klaus lowered his head until his chin touched his chest, revealing yet another series of cuts. This time they were less severe, as the wolf had no way of reaching its own neck with its teeth, and were just rough scratch marks. The point still stood though, and Klaus had no qualms about voicing it.

“What is wrong with me?”

His tone was so chocked up with worry that it made Dave circle the table again to come to stand in front of him. He was still holding his arms over his legs, careful to not make them hurt more than they needed to, and he looked so exposed that Dave felt an odd flare in his chest, strong enough to make him reach a hand up to rub it.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. He pointed at Klaus’s arm, one hand reaching out and the other holding the disinfectant, waiting for him to give him the clear to tend to them. Thankfully werewolves had particularly fast healing, so he might not need to suture the cuts up, preferring to opt for some paper stitches, “Anything that could be causing it, neurological issues, tics, would be reflected on your human side too, as the two aren’t separated enough to get different diseases.”

Klaus seemed to calm down a bit at that, as Dave had expected. He had no clue what Klaus might be going through at that moment, realizing that half of him had decided to snap and attack himself for no apparent reason, and deciding that he had just gone insane might have been the easiest explanation.

“To be frank with you, I have never seen anything like this, ever,” Dave kept talking, trying to calm down both of them as best as he could. Klaus’s arms didn’t look as bad as they first had now that he was washing the dried blood out of it, gently pushing into his skin to pry the blood clumps off, and he willed himself to be calmed by that, knowing full well that Klaus could hear his heart hammer with anxiety in his chest, “Considering that I visited you not even a month ago and you were perfectly healthy I have no reason to believe this was caused by any disease or disorder, but…”

He finished cleaning Klaus’s right arm, and reached for the paper stitches, carefully placing them in place as he thought over what to say next. Klaus wasn’t paying it much attention, preferring to focus on him and what he was saying instead. He would have expected him to be angsty under his hands, considering how much he was still openly bleeding, but it seemed like his wolf nature didn't care about that when there were bigger issues at hand, “But?”

Dave breathed out, knowing the werewolf wasn’t going to like what he had to say, “I might have a theory, but it’s something that I’ve only heard of in medical textbooks, and never seen in real life, so you might be a bit sceptical.”

“I am currently bleeding from all of my limbs and the back of my head,” Klaus reminded him, not unkindly. Just with that one tip of desperation to let him know that he was out of options and panicking, and would take any help he could get, “I’m all ears, doctor.”

Dave let the corner of his lips lift up in a smile, finishing up Klaus’s arm with gentle and expert bandaging. With enough rest and his werewolf DNA it would be healed in less than ten days, he was sure, “Have you ever felt like your wolf was trying to communicate something to you?”

Klaus pulled a face at that, the same face one would expect from someone who was about to explain an easy concept to a particularly stupid person, and Dave tried to beat him to it, “I know, I know, it’s an animal and it’s not rational, but-“

“It’s also a piece of shit, considering the circumstances, but please do continue.”

Looking down at Klaus’s other arm, still bloodied and mauled, Dave couldn’t find it within himself to be humoured by that, “There’s this medical concept, called the correlation theory,” he started explaining, focused on the task at hand but well aware he had Klaus’s full attention. He hadn’t talked about this theory since med school, which only made him think it was probably not the best diagnosis to try and make, “It has only been studied in few subjects, mostly newly widowed or divorced weres, and it seemed that in certain specific cases, when the individual was suffering some sort of strong emotional turmoil, their wolf counterpart would suffer too.”

He dared a glance at Klaus, trying to gauge what he was thinking, and seeing that he was still looking at him, listening, he persisted, “In those few cases, the wolf would start attacking and biting itself during the full moon, and the patient would go to ER the next day having no idea what had happened. There was no scientific explanation to the phenomenon, so in the end, the doctors came up with the theory: something had happened in the life of the werewolf, and the wolf part was trying to react to it, letting the human know they were suffering and to do something in the best way they knew.”

“Are you trying to psychoanalyze my wolf?” Klaus finally blurted out, obviously trying to remain calm but also sounding like he found the whole deal utterly ridiculous. Dave stumbled to explain 

“I knew you wouldn’t like it, but think, Klaus,” he had been so occupied with the explanation that he didn’t realize he was done medicating Klaus’s other arm until he was fixing up the bandage. He went to kneel to clean up his legs too, but his patient stopped him with a gesture, apparently preferring to have this conversation face to face rather than up to down, “Has something happened recently to make your wolf somehow unhappy?”

“I’m not divorced, if that’s what you’re asking,” was Klaus’s quick reply. He could tell that he wasn’t mad at him, in particular, but at the situation in general, and he also seemed to have slightly calmed down now that his arms were all cleaned and sutured up, “And I’m definitely not widowed.”

“Not just that,” Dave persisted, suddenly deciding that whatever Klaus had, it was his mission to find a cure for him. He had said it himself, that he was the only doctor in that place that he felt like he trusted, he had a standard to live up to, “Has anything happened that might have caused such a reaction? Something you had and then lost? Something you wanted but didn’t get?”

For a second something like realization flickered in Klaus’s eyes, but disappeared as quickly as it had shown up, not giving Dave the time to question him about it. He sighed, apparently defeated, and looked up at the ceiling with an almost comically resigned expression, “Let’s say your theory is true, what would I have to do then?”

“The best thing, for both of you, would be to figure out what happened to cause this reaction and try to fix the issue,” Klaus sighed a bit too loudly, and Dave could imagine him thinking the whole theory was utterly ridiculous but being too kind to point it out to him, “But if it isn’t possible I could give you something for it.”

That seemed to make the werewolf perk up, looking down at him hopefully as he stood there, waiting for his permission to kneel down and finish fixing his wounds, “You could?”

Dave grimaced. If Klaus didn’t like the theory he also wasn’t going to like what the cure for it was, for sure, “In those few cases I’ve mentioned the issue seemed to disappear after a couple of shots of a calming agent each full moon. It’s nothing strong or addictive, and it managed to calm the wolves down after some months until they went back to normal,” he tore his gaze away from the calendar on the wall it had become affixed to and properly faced Klaus for what he was about to say, “You would have to get a shot before and after the full moon next month.”

“That sounds good to me,” Klaus replied, evidently calmer and more hopeful about the situation, “How long before and after it would I have to get them?”

Dave winced, “Immediately before and after.”

For a second Klaus didn’t react, and just looked at him, waiting. Then the shoe seemed to drop and he closed his eyes, with a look of almost disappointment on his face, “Dave, that’s a terrible idea.”

He couldn’t really disagree with that. For him to give Klaus a shot so close to the close moon, it would mean to approach a werewolf in the final stages of turning, right when they are about to let their wolf take over. It wouldn’t be dangerous per se, after all Klaus would still be human, but it would be extremely stressful on his part. Having someone, pretty much a complete stranger, get so close to him during such a sensitive time would be nerve-wracking at best, if not downright triggering at worse. He doubted he would let anyone near him in such a time, but it was also true that his options were very limited.

Klaus didn’t elaborate on his comment any further for a couple of seconds, he just stayed there with the look of someone who was regretting every one of his life choices, but he didn’t need to speak to let Dave know what was going on through his head. Giving him a shot immediately before and after the full moon meant he either had to go to Klaus’s house to do it- aka letting someone into what at that point of the month would be starting to be considered a literal wolf den- or have Klaus turn in the hospital- which was one of the most stressful places for a werewolf, full of strange scents and people. Either way, it was a recipe for disaster.

“I don’t have any other choice, do I?” Klaus quietly asked, having already reached the point of acceptance in his speed-run of the five stages of grief. He went to cross his arms over his chest in an obvious defence mechanism but stopped when he realized it was a bad idea considering the state they were in, looking down at them almost sadly. Dave felt like an asshole for even suggesting the idea.

“This is the only diagnosis I can make, the other option would be to do nothing and just wait and hope the issue goes away on its own.”

Just a look at his still bloody legs was enough to make them both realize that option wasn’t even on the living-room, let alone the table.

“If you don’t want me to do it I can ask some of my colleagues, Cha-Cha for instance-“ Dave offered, hoping to somehow make Klaus feel better, although he knew it was useless. Flattering comments apart, the issue was having another person in the wolf’s den, whether it was Dave or not made little difference.

“You mean the werewolf?” Klaus said in shock, and Dave was once again left wondering how on earth Klaus and Hazel had both realized the other was a werewolf if they had never stumbled across each other. Most things he could write off as weres being simply more aware of their surroundings, but this was just ridiculous.

“That’s Hazel, and I’m not an idiot. Another option would be to have one of your family members do it, either a sibling or a partner. I could teach them, and hopefully they would be a more reassuring sight for you…”

“Yeah, funny thing,” Klaus ran his hands over his face, tired, and Dave could tell he was reaching his limit before the exhaustion from the full moon took over and he had to call it a day. It was a miracle he was still coherent and responsive with all the wounds he had found himself with, “Whole family is full of werewolves. Dad went out of his way to adopt a litter of werewolves for no apparent reason. Weird, right?”

Dave did think it was weird, but didn’t say it out loud. What was certain was that if nobody in Klaus’s family could do it they had no other choice: Dave was going to have to go over to Klaus’s house every month to give him the shots.

Klaus seemed to come to the realization at the same time as he had, letting his hands fall back on his lap- gently, so that he wouldn't jostle his arms too much- and looking at him with a mix of resignation and apology on his face, “So what I’m getting is that we’re stuck together in this.”

He winced, once again unable to disagree with that, “I’m really sorry, Klaus.”

“Don’t be,” he quickly replied, apparently not wanting to make Dave feel guilty even when he was sitting there, bleeding and hurting, dark bags under his eyes and one half of himself plotting against the other, “For what it’s worth, I really do appreciate your help, and I’m sorry.”

Dave was about to reply to that, and tell him that he was the victim in the situation, and that he didn't need to apologise for a single thing, but was stopped by Klaus groaning loudly and rubbing his hands over his face. Apparently the time for talk was over, "Can we please just-"

He nodded down at his legs, and Dave didn't need to be told twice. As he had said, it was a wonder Klaus hadn't dropped asleep yet, so hurt and tired as he was, and he wasn't going to push their luck. They would have time to properly speak and organise their arrangement at another moment. For now, he had a patient to tend to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Sup everyone I am once again sad. Nothing newsworthy here, same old same old
> 
> Hope y'all like the update :) I also hope the lore isn't too much. I had an idea I felt I liked and ran wild with it, and I hope you like it too. Be safe, love you xx


	3. Chapter 3

Once Klaus got over the initial shock of realizing the two of them were going to have to work together to solve the issue his wolf had caused- a sentiment that seemed to take a lot of closing his eyes and sighing in defeat from what he had seen- they both realized that in order to do so they had to become friends.

It wasn’t… exactly nice to say it out loud, but that’s as much as Dave had grasped. In order to fix whatever Klaus’s problem was, he needed to be close to him, in particular during the full moon, and there was no way his wolf was going to allow that if the two were mere acquaintances. It was simply a matter of territory. It was frowned upon, among the non-werewolves, and even among those like Dave who actually studied lycanthropy, but werewolves didn’t care about social bias. Either they found a way to make Dave feel familiar to Klaus, and get his wolf used to his presence, or him stepping into the den of a wolf during the full moon was going to be a death sentence, to put it plainly.

In other words, they had a tad bit of pressure on them.

Dave couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy. One day everything was okay, the next he was bleeding, hurting, and a random man he had met only once before was telling him that he had to insert himself into his life to give him an experimental treatment that may or may not fix the bleeding. Had he been in his shoes, he would have probably walked right into the ocean.

Klaus, on the other hand, seemed to simply accept it. Apparently waking up with his arms and legs torn open had been the limit for him, and nothing seemed to surprise him anymore, and actually apologized continuously to Dave for having dragged him into it, as if that wasn’t his job. He was a curious guy, and one he wouldn’t mind knowing more about. As things were, that wasn’t up to him.

The first time they met up after the hospital visit it was at a quiet bar, just outside of the city centre. He let Klaus decide where and when to meet up- another territory thing, as werewolves preferred to avoid crowded areas and stumbling upon each other, and were even rumoured to have routines they strictly followed just to avoid each other- and he silently took note of the address. It was a cute little thing, with barely enough people to fill a couple of booths, and it had such a quiet and calm atmosphere he already knew he was definitely going to come back around again.

It was only when he sat down, having arrived before Klaus, that he noticed the pride flag hung behind the counter and realized why exactly it was that he liked the vibe of the place.

He didn’t need to wait for Klaus much longer, as he made his appearance just as he was scrolling through the beverages options on the menu. He felt him before he saw him, something tickling the base of his skull, and he looked up to see him enter the bar. He was showing off a tight crop top along with leather pants, and his arms were bandaged with care, so much so that Dave found himself wondering who could have done it since he had said that he wasn’t in a relationship- then he immediately chastised himself for even thinking that about a _patient_ he was seeing, as he was a _doctor_ only doing his _job_.

The other people at the bar looked like they had had the same reaction as him, looking up in time to see the were enter the bar, and then seemed to realize why their brain had made them unconsciously look out for him and they quickly went back to what they were doing, in various degrees of fake nonchalance. It was natural for humans, to try and act casual after catching themselves picking up on someone being a werewolf (though it didn’t happen often, as big cities tended to be too crowded to have their brains properly react to every little danger they might come across), and it was always hilarious to see their reaction.

“Hey,” Klaus waved at him, sitting opposite of him on the booth. He looked rough but better than the last time. There were still bags under his eyes, though much less evident through the makeup, and his smile was back on his face, having taken the place of the worried frown that had evicted it the last time. Dave couldn’t help but smile back, vaguely registering his brain calming down at the aura of familiarity of the were, “Sorry for the wait, I got in a fight with a poodle.”

“It’s really no-“ Dave began saying, then frowned, looking back at Klaus, “Hang on, you what?”

The were looked like he had only been waiting for him to ask more about it as he launched himself into a story, ranting about how that poodle had had the audacity to growl at him at the subway and he had managed to get into a staring contest with it, its owner unaware of everything. As it was expected, Klaus had won the contest, and the poodle had, allegedly, retreated in shame. The woman in the booth opposite of theirs shoot them a confused gaze, no doubt having overheard part of the conversation and having found it absurd without context. Dave didn’t feel like clarifying it for her, preferring to smile along with Klaus’s tale, “A true clash of titans.”

The bartender came around to ask for their orders then, and they both gave them to her. She seemed to unconsciously lean more towards Dave’s side rather than Klaus, and he wondered how many of these little subconscious behaviours he had missed before he had started to actively notice them.

They kept chatting aimlessly for a while about nothing in particular, both of them trying to fill in the awkward silence by refusing to let it exist, and it was only when their orders came, and the other people closest to them left, that Klaus sighed, looking suddenly sombre, “I am really sorry for this, Dave.”

Dave looked up from the pancakes he had ordered, fork and knife froze in midair, confused. The were was avoiding his gaze, looking downright in pain, so much that it took him a while to realize why, exactly, he had said that, “You don’t need to apologize, none of this is your fault.”

“I know, but still,” Klaus lifted a shoulder, once again looking resigned. It was an expression he had seen on him the last time they saw each other, too, back at the hospital. He seemed to have realized that he really had no other choice, that if he wanted to stop his wolf from mauling his limbs any further he would have to compromise, and seemed to have made peace with it. That… didn’t sit too well with Dave, “Going out of your way to help me must be annoying for you, or at the very least bothersome.”

“It’s not like I dislike you,” Dave pointed out. It seemed as though both of them were on board with the idea, but didn’t like the fact that the other had been forced into it- and to be honest, Dave felt like his reasoning made more sense than Klaus’s.

Still, the werewolf frowned, a soft smile pulling at his lips, “This is the third time we see each other, I would hope you didn't have enough time to properly dislike me.”

“It’s not like I dislike the idea of getting to know you,” Dave corrected himself, then smiled. It seemed as if there was no exit to that hole they had both dug themselves into with their respective guilt so he tried to change the subject, nodding down at the were’s arms, “For instance, who did you get to help you with that? That bandaging is too neat, there’s no way you did it with only one hand.”

Klaus lifted up his arms, as if surprised to find the gauzes there. His expression was less clouded over now, on its way to being carefree, almost, “Oh, this? I tried doing it myself but it was a mess… I had to call my sister and have her do it.”

“The werewolf?” Dave asked, remembering what Klaus had said about his family, and how all of his siblings shared his lycanthropy. He felt a sudden pang in his stomach, realizing that maybe it was odd of him to remember that kind of detail and that Klaus might be weirded out by it, but nothing happened. 

“One of them, yes,” Klaus simply nodded, lifting his arm higher up and towards Dave, letting him have a look it. Dave cradled his wrist in his hands over his pancake and Klaus’s milkshake, thumbing the gauze there to see if it would budge. It didn’t, but Klaus did, for some reason.

“If you want I can teach you how to bandage yourself up,” he found the tip of the gauze, tucked into itself in order not to let it unravel, and pulled it back enough to get a quick peek at the cuts beneath it, “It’s pretty easy, once you learn the few tricks to it.”

The cuts had closed up, and now looked puffy and that ugly pinkish white that was typical of wounds on their way to recovery. It had only been a couple of days since the full moon and had Klaus been any regular human he would probably still be under intense care, but his faster healing and regenerative genes really did miracles, he was sure he was going to be completely healed before the next full moon.

He covered the wounds back up, mindful to not bandage them up too tightly, and looked up towards Klaus, expecting to find him with a witty joke ready at his lips. Instead, the were was looking back at him with wide eyes, surprised, everything about him screaming deer in the headlights if it wasn’t for his canine genes, and that was the moment when Dave realised a certain number of things:

a. he currently still had Klaus’s wrist in his hands, and was absentmindedly cradling it;

b. he could feel Klaus’s heartbeat under his thumb, and it was abnormally fast, even for him;

c. Klaus was slightly blushing;

d. Klaus was a werewolf, and you didn’t really go and touch a werewolf like that without thought, especially if they were wounded.

“Sorry!” Dave yelped, dropping Klaus’s hand and jumping back in surprise, only then realizing how invasive he was being. He knocked his fork on the ground as he did, making it clatter on the floor, and attracting the bartender’s attention as well. He quickly waved at her, and leaned down to pick up his fork, banging his head on the table as he went, because apparently his life wasn’t enough of a joke as it was, “Sorry, that was- I’m sorry, I forgot, I swear I-“

“Dave, chill out,” Klaus chuckled, blush now mysteriously vanished. He didn’t look offended by Dave’s lack of acknowledgement of social boundaries, but rather amused. His arms were still leaned on the table, he hadn’t retreated them from view and hidden them from Dave’s prying eyes, and he was looking at him freely, evidently not bothered, “It’s okay, you just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry, I just-“ Dave shrugged, helplessly, and told it as it was, “I was so caught up I forgot you were a werewolf.”

He meant it as a joke- he really did get quite distracted whenever he had something interesting under his hands, and it wasn’t the first time it had become an inconvenience as he had had episodes of walking into poles and walls, so caught up as he was by whatever case file he had under his nose- but Klaus widened his eyes, surprised. He scratched his bandaged wrist, right over where Dave had touched him, and hummed thoughtfully, “That… usually only happens the other way around…”

He seemed to be simply thinking out loud, rather than starting a conversation, and thus didn’t elaborate his comment any further. Dave, blushing, with a fork he had just picked off the ground, and his forehead slightly red from where he had banged it against the table, decided it would be wiser not to ask him. He pointed at their food, and offered him the most casual and confident smile he could muster, “Shall we?”

* * *

After the initial awkwardness at finding each other in a new, unexpected social situation, the two of them quickly realized that they really had nothing to be worried about: they clicked so well together that their meetings quickly turned into a treat rather than a bother. Dave would have already told you from the moment he saw Klaus that he was going to legitimately enjoy getting to know the guy, but he was glad Klaus seemed to feel the same.

What was even better, the more the two of them met up and hung out, the more he could clearly pinpoint his subconsciousness slowly getting used to the were’s presence. When initially his hindbrain would send him a warning signal whenever Klaus was approaching, now it was subtle, almost inexistent, and could be written away as a simple environmental awareness rather than his brain actively scanning the area for a predator. It was fascinating, to say the least.

Getting used to Klaus, though, did not translate to getting used to all werewolves, and of that he was painfully aware. It wasn’t something he could help, and he always had to physically keep himself from actually turning around to face the threat his brain registered, and even though he had learned to relax his body language into an appearance of someone who wasn’t worrying over whether or not he was going to get mauled, he knew that werewolves still could see him react. He only hoped that his efforts weren’t a waste and that they still appreciated him trying his best to not let himself react to their presence.

He would have asked Klaus, but whenever he tried to actually formulate the question it always ended up sounding too pathetic, and in the end he just gave up.

Klaus himself, on his part, looked as happy as he could be. That day, a week or so after the full moon, they had both decided to head to the local lake to have a stroll around its bank, and bask in some fresh air. The sky was clouded over, and the soft breeze that would blow through the trees there was enough to make Dave snuggle deeper into his jacket, but he was glad for it. Klaus was on his way to healing, his arms were now sans bandages as the wounds had almost completely closed up, ready to scar, and they had started itching to be left out for some fresh air. The sun rays would have definitely marked the skin tissue there, leaving signs of the accident forever, and he really didn't want that to happen.

Still, the were didn't seem to mind. He was sitting on a large rock, smiling up at the sky like a happy little bird, his messy hair doing nothing to disprove the analogy, and would occasionally look over to Dave whenever he found a nice enough rock to throw in the lake, making it skip on its surface. His gaze would get noticeably wild whenever he threw the rock, and it was such a canine-like reaction he didn’t dare point it out.

At some point, while Dave was looking down at his feet, sure that the flat pebble that had caught his eye was there somewhere- and that _no, I didn’t hallucinate it, Klaus_ \- the were suddenly blinked into the shy daylight, and turned his head to face the little path circling around the lake. He was still sitting, evidently comfortable exactly where he was, and as Dave kept a discreet eye on him he soon realized what had caught his attention- or rather, his hindbrain did.

A father and his little daughter were walking along the path, her babbling happily and him smiling and nodding, her small hand in his broader one. He had a certain stiffness to his movements, and the little girl kept muttering and chit chattering around four very sharp canines, and Dave immediately looked away, knowing that those two were both werewolves. It was rare to see two in the same place, especially of the same family, but regardless of how interesting it might be he was still not a creep, so he just went back to skipping rocks.

Klaus, on the other hand, kept his gaze on the two weres, until they were close enough to see without straining his eyes. From his position near the lake bank, Dave saw the man stiffen a little, and the little girl stopped chattering, probably confused by her own instinctive reaction that was now making her wary of Klaus, and the three of them kind of just stared at each other for a couple of seconds. The were just gave them a nod of acknowledgement, his comfortable position a clear indicator that he was no threat to them, but he still didn’t lower his eyes. It was strange, as werewolves weren’t big fans of eye contact with strangers, and preferred to immediately look away after acknowledging one another as a sign of non-aggression. The only time they didn’t lower their eyes was when they were protecting something, like their territory, or someone, like a family member. The man didn’t look away, either, and simply nodded and slowly kept walking, which made sense, considering he had a kid with him, someone his instinct was clearly telling him to protect, but what was Klaus supposed to be defending here? It was just the two of them, it made no sense.

The interaction lasted only a couple of seconds but still, he didn’t ask. Not his business, and either way it would be considered extremely rude. He had had his fair amount of rude questions, ranging from _would you be the man or the woman in the relationship?,_ to _hey I have a gay cousin, do you happen to know him?_ , so he could sympathize.

Still, he didn’t expect Klaus to ask him, completely unprompted, just as Dave was throwing another rock, “What are the chances of a werewolf having a child with lycanthropy?”

The rock flew in a bit too sharply, and only bounced twice. Dave pouted, turning towards Klaus, “It depends,” he searched his eyes, looking for any sign of discomfort at having a non-werewolf explain something that didn’t concern them in the least, and when he found no trace of it he walked closer to Klaus, sitting on a fallen tree trunk there. It was mushy, and it made him squirm, but he was already sitting and he didn’t want to look like an idiot by standing up again, “Lycanthropy is a recessive gene, so it depends on your parents, and your grandparents,” he nodded in the direction the dad and daughter had walked off towards, unconsciously smiling when he could see the little kid waving her hands as she chattered her dad’s ears off, “For both of them to be werewolves, it would mean that the other parent also has the recessive gene, if they aren't a werewolf themselves.”

Klaus looked puzzled for a second, for which Dave was secretly glad. He hated explaining something that people already knew, “Wait, is there a possibility for a werewolf to be born from two humans?”

“Yeah, that’s how recessive genes work,” he nodded happily. He went to cross his arms over his chest, then paused when the trunk made an ominous creak under his weight, “A human could be carrying a recessive gene without knowing, and if they had children with someone else who also carried the same recessive gene one of their children would be a werewolf, even if neither of the parents is.”

“Wack,” was all Klaus had to say. It wasn’t unkind, he still looked happy to listen to Dave’s rambling, but there was something sour about his tone nevertheless, “So it’s like being a healthy carrier.”

Dave scrunched his nose, “That would imply that lycanthropy is a genetic disease, which it isn’t,” he looked at Klaus, waiting for him to counterargument, and when he saw him take in a breath he beat him to it, “Don’t try to argue or I swear I’ll play the gay card and make you feel bad for even saying that.”

“Okay, number one, being gay isn’t genetic, so the comparison wouldn’t stand-“

“Go tell that to my grandma.”

“And number two, I’m also gay,” Klaus raised both of his hands, in a way that could only be defined as gloating. It made Dave want to lift him up and throw him into the lake like a particularly large rock, “I’m a gay werewolf, I check one more minority box than you do, mister. I’m unbeatable in this debate.”

“I’ll draw you Punnett squares just to explain to you how much of an asshole you are, just you wait.”

Klaus laughed loudly at that, an open, happy sound that made him throw his head back, but still not enough to show his teeth. It was an extraordinary show of motion control on his part, he had to admit.

They were quiet for a while, simply basking in the soft breeze and humid air. Then, Klaus nodded down at the rocks at their feet, that animalistic playfulness back in his gaze, “Well, are you going to teach me how to throw these bad boys or are you going to keep all the fun to yourself?”

* * *

A couple of weeks passed before Dave realized he was truly in trouble. It was a nice sunny morning and they had both decided to meet up at the park for the day, a good enough neutral ground though Klaus made a comment about not liking the dog people there. Apparently, as the poodle accident had seemed to confirm, animals could tell when someone was a werewolf more quickly than humans could, and dogs, in particular, weren’t too fond of weres. They probably could tell that a predator was nearby, and were wary of it, but Klaus made it sound like it was a personal offence, and Dave wisely decided to not investigate further.

He arrived at the park before Klaus once again, anxious power-walker that he was, and he sat on a bench in the shade, happy to just watch the birds scurry by. He had actually started feeding a small group of them- good 70 years old trapped inside a millennial body that he was, he always brought a little bag of bird seeds with him, as the park was his preferred lunch spot whenever it was sunny out- when Klaus showed up, his happy little stroll towards him giving no indication of the cuts and bruises that were scarring over his legs, “Hey, sorry for the wait, I had trouble deciding what to wear.”

Dave looked up at him and he properly froze, a hand full of bird seeds stuck in mid-air. A pigeon hummed impatiently at it, “I’m sure it was a tough decision.”

Klaus smiled brightly at his comment, the sarcasm in it apparently doing nothing to kill his enthusiasm. He was wearing the thinnest shirt Dave had ever laid his eyes on, so thin that it was basically see-through. Some people at the park were side-glancing him, too, and he wondered the kind of reactions he must’ve gotten on the subway, “You think I look this good without effort?”

A woman walked by with her beagle. Both started hard at Klaus’s back, but for two completely different reasons, “I suppose I ought to give you some credit.”

He went back to his birds, remembering just then that he still had a handful of seeds held out for no apparent reason, and he realized then that they, too, had reacted to Klaus’s presence. All of the pigeons and sparrows had moved to his side of the bench, carefully keeping away from the were. They were at a good few feet distance but even there they kept eyeing him carefully, their brains registering that a wolf was nearby even when all they could see was a man. Only one raven seemed brave enough to tiptoe around him, but he never got as close as it had with Dave. It was an odd, uncanny sight to witness.

Klaus seemed to sense his confusion, then, smiling sadly as he looked down at the birds too. A sparrow quickly scrambled away as soon as his gaze settled on it, “Yeah, they always do this. I tried feeding them but they won’t get anywhere near me.”

He didn’t seem sad, just resigned, and it broke something in Dave’s heart. He had no idea why he was suddenly emotional over the thought of the were being unable to feed some birds, yet here he was, “I’m sorry, Klaus.”

Klaus raised his eyebrows, surprised. Apparently apologizing for something so silly wasn’t the best move, “Don’t be?” his voice raised by the end of the sentence, ending up sounding like a question, “It’s just some birds.”

Dave felt like it was more than that, but he kept his mouth shut. He wondered how he would cope, knowing that every creature around him unconsciously feared him. He wouldn’t be able to feed those birds like he was now. He probably wouldn’t be able to have any pets, as they would be constantly terrified of him. Hell, he probably wouldn’t even be able to be a doctor. He doubted he would be strong enough to keep up the same cheerfulness Klaus had, “Come here.”

Klaus stayed still for a second, confused by his sudden request. When Dave patted the empty spot on the bench next to him with a small smile he moved, sitting down next to him as far away as the bench allowed him. The birds moved even further away.

Dave took a handful of bird seeds and kept it in one closed hand, reaching for Klaus with the other. He pulled at the sleeve of his shirt, getting him to hold out his own hands, tattoos facing the sky, and he dumped the seeds in his open palms, “What are you-“

He cradled Klaus’s hands in his own, effectively shutting him up, and pulled until he got him to lean down with him. The birds regarded both of them carefully, sidestepping around their clasped hands, and apparently seemed to decide that Klaus wasn’t a threat as long as he was with Dave and started pecking at his hands, tentatively at first, then with more confidence, “There you go.”

“Oh my god,” Klaus breathed out, voice oddly high pitched, “Oh my god this is so cute.”

He kept murmuring soft, high pitched appreciations at the birds, evidently touched by that simple display, and Dave wondered if this was the first time he had ever interacted with an animal that wasn’t afraid of him. He concluded that it probably was when Klaus’s voice broke when a little round sparrow landed on Dave’s thumb, using it to peck into the seeds, and he realized that he was crying, “Klaus… are you okay?”

“Yeah,” the were sniffed, sheepishly wiping his tears away with his hands once he birds finished their snacks. They seemed to conclude that Klaus was no threat and that the big scary wolf they were born to associate with him was probably a fluke, as they didn’t fly away but rather stayed relatively close, basking in the clear soft breeze along with the two of them. That only seemed to make Klaus cry even more, and Dave found himself at a loss of what to do, “Yeah, sorry. That was just, so precious. Thank you, Dave.”

He offered him a watery smile, looking incredibly and wonderfully _happy_ , and something inside Dave’s chest curled itself around his heart, clenching it almost painfully, “No problem, really…”

Klaus went to coo over some of the pigeons that were still pecking around them, earning himself an odd look from an elderly woman that walked by, and Dave took the occasion to rub at the uncomfortably tight spot on his chest. It didn’t dissipate, but rather amplify itself the more he looked at Klaus.

Ah. Right.

“Hey, are _you_ okay?” Klaus asked him, leaning on his knees to look closer at the birds. He gave him a quick, worried look, and Dave hoped he couldn’t see the panic in his eyes, “Your heart is beating terribly fast-“

“Do you want to feed the ducks?” he blurted out. He needed to be alone to process what the fuck had just happened, and he also needed Klaus to not start asking himself about his heartbeat. He actually also needed Klaus to stop listening to his heartbeat altogether, at least for the moment, as he suddenly found it to be overwhelming, but he let that thought go, preferring to focus on the thousands of others currently flooding his brain.

Klaus looked like he had just handed him the moon, which was ironic, considering…. “Can we?”

Dave stood up, inviting Klaus to do the same, and started marching towards the lake, preferring to show him rather than throw himself into an actual conversation when his heart was still throbbing uneasily. Thankfully, Klaus seemed to let the matter go, preferring to focus on the birds rather than on Dave’s odd behaviour, for which he was thankful. Leave it to him to find him so endearing he almost has the feeling equivalent of a heart attack. Typical.

If the pain in his chest didn't dissipate, and if it only grew stronger the more their meeting went on, well, that was a problem for another day.


	4. Chapter 4

The days eventually turned into weeks, and the weeks into a month, and before he even realized it was already the day of the full moon. In the end, after various evaluations, he and Klaus had decided that it would be best to just let him stay the night in order to do what they needed to. First of all, it would be easier on Klaus, since having someone get in and out multiple times would be more stressful than them just staying with him throughout the whole night, and secondly, Dave lived a good half an hour away from Klaus, and considering he had a morning shift he really didn’t want to wake up at an ungodly hour to manage both.

So here he was, packing his bag for the night, oddly nervous and pretty much bouncing with pent up energy. He and Klaus had gotten quite close over the past month, both for necessity and because they just seemed to like each other’s company, so his brain would not stop seeing it as some sort of sleepover, for some unknown reason. Whatever his issue was, he needed to get himself under control. Regardless of how much he liked Klaus, he was going over there as a doctor, not as a friend, and he needed to act as such.

Picking up his bag, after having filled it up with some snacks for the night- he had no idea whether or not Klaus would be hungry, and to be completely honest he had no idea how Klaus would be in general, having never seen a werewolf before the full moon, but better safe than sorry- he quickly made his way out of his flat, almost cheerily closing the door behind him. It was relatively early, a little after six and a half in the evening, and as he made his way to Klaus’s flat, driving through the still bustling city, he couldn’t help but frown at the sky, aware of what was about to come out of it.

Just like other werewolves, Klaus had chosen to live further away from the city centre, where the people and cars were fewer, and the noise pollution a little easier on his sensitive ears. He knew it also had something to do with a territory thing, and how each were unofficially held a certain part of the city under their name and everyone avoided entering another were’s territory unannounced, but considering that the last time he had tried to ask Klaus that he had pulled an extraordinarily pained face he had assumed it was some sort of taboo subject, and preferred to not bring it up again.

Soon enough, he found himself under Klaus’s building, half an hour before sunset, just like he had told him, and his brain unhelpfully reminded him that _hey, you’re in his territory, and you’re announced and wanted, that makes you special!_

There was no going around it, it was a fairly poor area. He knew Klaus didn’t have much wealth to his name to begin with, having been removed from his family legacy due to his addictions (it’s amazing how much the two of them had shared without even thinking about it) but he also knew it was a question of prejudice. Not many people are willing to rent their flats to a werewolf, and even less would be up to live near one. 

With quick and swift strides he walked up to the front door, unsurprisingly finding it already open- why would you bother with locks when a literal werewolf lived in the building, protecting it under their name?- and made his way up to the last floor, following the directions Klaus had given him, night bag jiggling on his shoulder along with each step.

When he finally reached the door to Klaus’s apartment he paused, suddenly nervous again. He had meant to go over there a couple of times at least before this moment, just to get Klaus and his wolf used to his presence in the flat, but Klaus had always avoided the question, and in the end he had never actually entered the flat before. He didn’t mind, preferring to follow along to what Klaus thought was best rather than try to decide for him, but now he regretted not knowing what was behind that door, which was only one more source of anxiety.

What was he so nervous for, anyway? It was just Klaus. They were friends at that point, there was absolutely no reason whatsoever to be so worked up over going over to his _friend’s_ house. What if he might or might not find said friend attractive? That still didn’t warrant the panic he was now feeling. He probably needed to calm himself down, before Klaus smelled the scent of pure panic and vague confused interest that he was sure was lingering around him.

As if he had somehow summoned him by merely thinking about him, the door suddenly opened in front of him, after having spent a good half a minute just staring at it like an idiot, and Klaus’s head emerged from behind it. He looked utterly exhausted, with dark bags under his eyes, messy hair, and a tired, almost defeated expression on his face, but Dave’s stupid little gay heart still did a flip in his chest at the sight of him.

“Are you going to come in or just stand there for the whole night?” his voice was rough, with a certain unmistakable tremble to it, like he was trying with all of his might to either hold back a scream or a whimper, so his comment ended up sounding just tired and sad rather than snappy and sarcastic. Dave had to physically restrain himself from reaching out to hug Klaus, weak fucker that he was.

“How did you know I was here?” Dave asked, just to fill his part of the conversation. Now that he was looking at him more fully he could see that Klaus was clearly trembling at moments, as if wrecked by sudden bursts of shivers every once in a while, and the doctor in him wanted to do nothing more than take out some paper and a pen and take notes.

“With my highly sensitive nose, of course,” Klaus sing-sung, tapping the side of his nose with an unsure shaky hand, stepping back to let Dave walk in without having to break the six feet distance rule he religiously kept observing, “Also you breathe like a horse when you’re nervous.”

Dave chuckled, walking in and closing the door behind his back. The apartment was quite small, which he had expected from outside, and it seemed to consist of only four rooms. A large living room, which was mostly taken up by a large and freshly made couch, a kitchen, from which a clear tea-y scent was coming from and making Dave’s mouth water unexpectedly, a bathroom, and what would probably normally be a bedroom, but that he could already guess was the room Klaus reserved for the full moons.

Having a whole wolf roam an apartment completely unsupervised was a terrible idea, and it was such common knowledge that werewolves having a separate room ready for their monthly transformations wasn’t a secret. Most used their basement for that purpose, in an effort to reduce any sound or noise that tried to escape, but it didn’t seem like Klaus had such a privilege. Stepping further into the apartment, he could now see that the door leading to that room was different from all the others, probably with double locks and whatever else Klaus felt he needed to kept the wolf under check, so it was clear that that’s where the magic happened- so to speak. Which meant that Klaus had no bedroom, and probably slept on the couch.

Klaus seemed to somehow understand what he was thinking because as he paced the living room, nervously but deliberately, he pointed at the couch with a wince, “I’ve been trying to look for a bed for you to make you feel at least a bit more comfortable but nobody seemed to be up for it, so I’m afraid this is all I’ve got,” he kept a good half a meter distance from the couch as if he was afraid to touch it, and his tics were becoming more and more severe as he kept talking, “I washed it and changed the sheets, of course, so that… you know-“

He pointed at himself, then at Dave, avoiding his gaze, and it took him a while to understand what he was implying. He had cleaned his couch as best as he could to keep Dave from somehow getting his scent on him. That… kind of made him squirm, and he wasn’t sure why, exactly. Whether he somehow got Klaus’s scent on him or not made very little difference for him, after all, he couldn’t smell it if he tried, but he knew for a fact that wasn’t the same for werewolves. He probably just needed to sit in the same place Klaus usually sat to have his scent rub off on him, and he had no idea how other werewolves would react to that. No wonder Klaus was circling his own couch and avoiding it like the plague, he was trying his best to try and be respectful towards Dave, over something that Dave would have never been able to notice anyway, at his most vulnerable time ever. He was truly something.

“Klaus, I don’t care if I sleep on a couch or a king-sized bed,” he decided to cut in and reassure him, trying to offer him a smile. Klaus kept avoiding his gaze, which was probably more related to the full moon than his presence, so he tried to not let himself be affected by that, “I’m more worried about you right now. Are you okay? Is there something I can do?”

Klaus visibly relaxed at that, letting himself fall down on a chair in front of the couch. Apparently, the shivers and tremors only became worse when he was staying still rather than pacing around, “It’s okay, can we just-“ he pointed at his arm, too tired to even try and form whole sentences anymore, “Before I start becoming uncooperative.”

'Uncooperative' was one way to put it. Finally having a purpose beside standing there like an idiot, he went around the couch and sat right in front of the werewolf, letting his doctor side take over as he rummaged through his bag for Klaus’s shot. Something told him that he should be more aware of Klaus now than ever, considering that he was still twitching and jumping at every moment, something that would be best described as falling into the category of ‘prey’, but he tried his best to ignore it. 

It went relatively smoothly, Klaus was still the perfect patient he had always been and even thanked him after he was done with the injection. He only slipped once when someone walked in the hallway outside the door, growling softly before he caught himself, and Dave tried really hard to hide his surprise. That was the most inhuman thing he had ever witnessed Klaus do and he willed his heartbeat to slow down before the werewolf heard it and assumed it was due to fear.

“Sorry, it’s being kind of an ass, for some reason,” Klaus muttered, crossing his arms over his chest with a pained expression as Dave finished cleaning up the injection point.

“No worries,” he stole a glance at Klaus, at the bluish veins marking the outside of his eyes and the way his gaze kept jumping from each window and door, no doubt trying to keep everything under control in what was quickly and inevitably becoming a den, and he had to admit he found him fascinating. He had always found werewolves interesting, he never denied it, but something about Klaus made him drawn to him in a way that he couldn’t explain, “Can I ask you something?”

Klaus finally did look at him then, and his gaze quickly moved from his eyes to his throat, where he was sure he could see his jumping pulse, and again to the room, “Better make it quick, doctor, I think I have less than a few minutes left.”

Well, that wasn’t ominous at all… He almost backtracked out of his own curiosity, feeling like maybe it would be considered offensive or invasive, but the unsubtle timer Klaus put on him gave him the confidence he needed, “Does it hurt?”

Klaus looked at him again and held his gaze longer than he had so far. His eyes were sharper than ever and his irises wider, almost uncannily so. It was unnerving, and it made him want to look away, “Are you going to take notes of this?”

It was meant to be a joke, and Dave shrugged sheepishly, “I don’t know anyone who has ever done anything like this, I might as well write a dissertation.”

Klaus tried going for a chuckle, but what came out was a trembling cough. He squeezed his arms tighter around his middle, “Of course it does,” his nose twitched, and he didn’t seem to be aware of it. It was almost cute, if he didn’t look a second away from passing out, “It’s like someone is breaking your bones in half, and reassembling them in some sort of bad-taste caricature. It’s exhausting.”

He said it like it was no big deal, just something else completely in the ordinary, and Dave felt his heart swell for the guy. The next day he was going to take care of him as best as he could, at least to make the experience a little less traumatic, even if it wasn’t much, “Klaus, I’m really sorry.”

He reached over to pat Klaus’s wrist amiably, just a brief touch to let him know he was there for him, for whatever he might need, and Klaus did something weird. As soon as their skins made contact he whined, not too loudly, and quite high-pitched. He was sure he had heard huskies make the exact same sound. It was obvious he hadn’t meant to do it because as soon as the sound left his lips he jumped back in surprise, away from Dave’s touch, almost falling off his chair. His lips were now glued shut, as if he didn’t trust them anymore, and he had a look of utter surprise on his face. He had legitimately no idea what had just happened.

“I-” he cleared his throat, looking down at Dave’s hand like it was to be held responsible. Dave lifted it up to his shoulder in a show of innocence, just as surprised, “I have no clue why I did that.”

“Right,” he replied, trying to keep a smile in. He shouldn’t make jokes about the situation, not after Klaus had just told him how much it hurt him, but he had to admit Klaus actually _whining_ like a dog was pretty funny, “That’s understandable.”

“I’ll just-“ he pointed to the closed door to his den and stood up, marching over it with the uncertainty of a man with very low iron. Once he reached it he turned around towards Dave, who decided to keep himself closer to the couch and not crowd Klaus, “Just as a warning, whatever happens, do not open the doors until tomorrow morning, alright?”

“Doors?” Dave decided to latch on, to avoid pointing out that _of course I’m not opening the damned thing, I’m not a moron_.

Instead of replying, Klaus just opened the sturdy door to his room, revealing another door behind it, this one made of metal bars that allowed to see inside. The room was fairly empty, with just a few blankets adorning the floor and a small scratched-up cupboard, where Klaus probably kept his clean clothes for after the full moon, “Gotta keep that boy in, in a way or another.”

“Are those insulated walls?” 

Klaus looked back at the room then again at Dave. He could swear he had more facial hair than he had a moment before, “I don’t want to be an annoyance to the neighbours. Also, it’s not exactly a nice process to hear…”

He nodded, thinking he was referring to his wolf either howling or growling or being in either way noisy, but then his words sank in. Process. The turning, the whole bone snapping and being reassembled into something else, was _noisy_.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” he asked to keep himself from spiralling into the hole his brain had created. He had to tend to various patients with broken bones or dislocated shoulders over his career and the noises those made had haunted him for days after, the thought of Klaus undergoing the same process made him feel like throwing up.

“Dave, I’m fine,” Klaus only replied, a foot already in the room. He had picked up again on avoiding his gaze, which was only more unnerving, “I’m sure you would change your mind if you saw me.”

Before Dave could complain and disagree- he still hadn’t figured out exactly why, but he was going to care about Klaus regardless of the circumstances- Klaus bid him goodnight, and was gone. After a second, the door clicked as numerous locks were set into place, then everything was quiet again.

“Right,” Dave breathed out to the now-empty apartment. He stayed silent for a moment just to try and see if he could hear Klaus, just to prepare himself for what his ears might pick up on during the night. He couldn’t, “Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Sup my fellow human beings. I am in a particularly good mood this fine evening because I have reached a certain episode of the magnus archives and I feel 〜 represented 〜 and I l o v e it. I hope you guys have a wonderful day!!


	5. Chapter 5

Sleeping at Klaus’s place was… difficult. The couch was surprisingly comfortable, and the flat itself felt quite cosy, but there was just something about knowing that a predator was right behind a door six feet away from him that kept him up for most of the night.

Initially, he had thought that he was just nervous. It was the first time he slept over at Klaus’s, after all, so it was normal to feel kind of unsettled. After the first hour, though, and after eating half of the snacks he had packed, he realized it was less of a conscious reaction, and more just his subconscious picking up on every sniff and creak that managed to escape the werewolf’s den, and obsessively focusing on it. The insulated doors did their job, and true to his words he did not hear Klaus make a single sound, but even the strongest walls could not hold back the creaking of the floorboards under the wolf’s feet.

According to his faithful textbooks and research, werewolves varied in size, mostly mirroring their human characteristics, so he guessed Klaus’s wolf probably weighed a little over 100 pounds, and had no frame of reference for his size but from the graphs and photos he had gotten hold of he shouldn’t be much bigger than a regular grey wolf. With that being said, he could distinctly hear him move around the room, floorboards squeaking with each step, not to mention the few times he stopped right in front of the door and started scratching it, quite insistently, so he really didn’t know what to think.

At some point around two and three in the morning, just after the wolf seemed to have settled down near the door, possibly resting, Dave finally fell into a light but undisturbed sleep. Lulled by the buzzing of the city outside the flat, he slept until six, when he was woken up by a quiet tapping sound.

It took him a while to get his bearings, his sleepy brain confused when he realised he wasn't in his bed, and when the memories from the day before started coming back bit by bit he immediately sat up, quick enough to make his head spin, and blinked at the empty room. The sun was starting to rise and from what he could see from his sitting position the moon had already gone out. The tapping sounded again, right behind him, and he jumped up, getting tangled in the blankets and almost falling face-first on the floor in the process.

“Klaus?” he called once he managed to stand up, aware that his clothes were in disarray and his hair probably made him look like a mad man. On the other side of the wooden door it was quiet, but after a couple of seconds, he heard the tapping a third time. It was very faint, as if someone barely had enough strength to touch the doorframe, rather than properly knock on it. In a couple of strides he reached the door, unlocking it with the key that was dangling from the knob, and opened it in expectation. Over the gate, was Klaus, now back in human form, sitting against the wall and looking at him with a disoriented expression.

“Oh hey,” Klaus rasped out. He looked on the verge of death. His clothes were askew, as if he had put them on without particularly caring how he looked and probably just to be more presentable, his hair was a complete mess and the blue bags under his eyes from the night before were still there, but were much more accentuated, almost as if he had been punched. His hand was dangling from one of the bars, no doubt the source of the tapping sound, and he was looking up at him blankly. His eyes didn’t seem to be focusing properly, like someone who wasn’t wearing their glasses, and it took him a couple of tries to be able to actually form coherent words, “Are you… Should you…”

He trailed off, his head nodding against his chest, and raised his hand to make a slow gesture at Dave. He lifted his index and middle finger, and in a repeated and tired motion moved his thumb to the two fingers, closing his hand around a weak mimic of someone using a syringe. Dave was baffled; he looked like he was one second away from passing out and what he was worried about was his shot.

“Let’s get you out of there first, what do you think?” he opened the gate, the metallic clank of it making him cringe, and Klaus let out a low whine. He bared his teeth in a wince, sharp canines making a quick appearance as he let his head fall back against the wall, and Dave hissed in sympathy. He was always extremely careful to not appear in any way inhuman, hiding any wolfish appearance and behaviour away from him, but he guessed he had less control over it when he was in these conditions.

He leaned down to help Klaus up, still debating whether he should lift him up and help him wobble to the couch or just pick him up altogether, but what welcomed him when he grabbed Klaus from under his armpits was a low growl. He was startled, enough to jump back on instinct, and the growling immediately stopped.

“That’s Dave, stupid,” Klaus chided. He seemed to be having an argument with himself, probably still too under the influence of the moon to be able to properly separate the wolf and the human, “He’s nice. Why do you always have to embarrass me?”

“Sorry,” he replied, although he knew it wasn’t directed at him. He tried bending down again, but this time waited for Klaus’s confirming nod. It took him a while to receive any sort of consent to get closer, Klaus was really quite incoherent, “I’m going to lift you now.”

He didn’t expect Klaus to be as light as he was, but picking him up with one arm behind his knees and one behind his back was surprisingly easy. He guessed it was easier to just take him to the couch himself rather than try to coordinate his limbs into something that resembled walking, and Klaus seemed to agree if the soft sound he made as he tucked himself closer to his chest was anything to go by. Once he laid him on the couch, after an uneventful couple of steps to reach it, Klaus said something that might have been a thank you, but that was muffled by him nuzzling into the first pillow he saw.

“Who washed these?” he heard Klaus faintly ask as he rummaged through his bag to find his meds. He was now outright stretching over the couch like a cat, before curling around the blankets Dave had discarded not too long before, “These smell _amazing_.”

“You washed them, dummy,” Dave approached the couch again, measuring out the right amount of medicine he needed to inject Klaus. He expected the were to whine or complain about the shot but he seemed to be more alert once he saw it, trying to sit up straighter to let Dave do his job. He failed, multiple times, and in the end allowed Dave to help him up, “It’s going to be really quick, give me a second…”

Klaus hummed, looking up at him through half-lidded eyes. His legs, which he seemed to have no control over, were sprawled on the couch, his head was rolled back on its cushion, and he looked positively hammered. Only the bruises on his face and the heat of his skin gave away the truth. Speaking of which-

“Klaus, is it okay if I take a look at you? I want to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself again,” he discarded the syringe, sanitizing the tiny hole it had opened on Klaus’s pale and sweaty skin, and jumped when Klaus _purred_ as a reply. He looked down at him, bemused, but he had opted to close his eyes and look the most relaxed he had ever been. It truly was a weird sight.

Deciding to take that as a yes, Dave carefully reached for Klaus’s wrists, gently lifting up the long sleeves covering them. He let out a breath of relief when he saw that no new scratches or bite marks had been added to his skin. Only the old scars smattered the inside of his arms, and even those were slowly but surely disappearing, thanks to his advanced physiology, “Looking good.”

“Why, thank you,” Klaus wearily replied, not bothering to open his eyes. His arms were a dead weight in Dave’s grip, and although it was kind of funny he also felt oddly honoured that Klaus trusted him enough to let himself be this vulnerable around him, “You aren’t half bad yourself.”

He clicked his tongue, letting go of Klaus’s arms to reach out for the hem of his trousers. He lifted them up enough to assess that yes, those too were unscratched, and ignored the non-sensical chattering that Klaus washed him with when he touched his calves. A post-full moon werewolf seemed to be just your average hungover friend, so he guessed ignoring most of what he said or did was for the best.

When he reached up to Klaus’s cheek, gently prying his eyelids open to check his pupils- they were concerningly wide, but only for human standard- Klaus looked right back at him with a small smirk, “Is it odd that I like this? You taking care of me?”

For a moment, Dave didn’t know how to reply. There was no hint of humour in Klaus’s voice, which made his statement all the more scary to him. He willed his heart to slow down before the were noticed it, but he knew he failed when Klaus’s smirk only became wider, “Hey, whatever floats your boat, bud. I don’t judge.”

Klaus chuckled at that, a rough and raspy sound that would have fit best an avid smoker, before resuming his loose-limbed rag-dolly position on the couch, properly going boneless the moment Dave stopped touching him, “Aren’t you supposed to be at work? What time is it anyway?”

He slithered down the cushion until he could properly lay against it, and looked up at Dave with soft tired eyes that made him want to do absolutely nothing but curl up along with him for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, Klaus was right, “A little over six, I have to be at work at around seven-thirty,” he sighed, looking down at Klaus’s unorganized shape, “Do you want me to make you some breakfast? I know you’re probably not supposed to eat immediately after the full moon but maybe a bit of tea might help?”

Klaus tilted his head slightly to the side and looked at him with an odd expression, as if he was trying to figure him out, “You don’t… have to.”

His voice became higher towards the end of the sentence, making it sound like a question more than a statement, and Dave took it as his answer, patting Klaus’s arm amiably, “I know. Tea it is, then.”

* * *

Making a couple of cups of tea took more than he had anticipated- mostly because Klaus seemed to have organized his kitchen completely at random, with no real criterium or reason- but soon enough he came back in the living room, holding two steaming mugs, and chuckling affectionately when he saw Klaus curled up on the couch. He had moved from his leaning position and was now burrowed into the blanket, a soft expression adorning his face. He looked like a cat sunbathing on a windowsill, with no care in the world.

“How are you feeling?” Dave asked him, quietly, as he settled next to him on the couch and sat their mugs on the coffee table. He had still a little under half an hour before he had to start getting ready, and Klaus really did make the couch look extremely comfortable.

The blanket bundle moved, and the were blinked up at him, pupils still a bit too dilated and his eyes puffy and tired, “Good, apart from the fact that I just had my insides rearranged,” he lifted a hand, making a lazy motion towards Dave, “And not in the fun way.”

Dave took a long sip of tea to avoid replying to that, promptly scalding his tongue. Klaus seemed to only then realize that he had made tea, or at least it seemed like he did, because he gasped softly, then immediately coughed over his own gasp, “Did you make tea?!” he avoided mentioning that he had _told_ _him_ that he was going to. It seemed like he just didn’t have enough strength to keep up with what was happening, plus his eyes were practically sparkling with joy at the sight of the hot mug, and he didn’t want to ruin it, “Oh, Dave! You’re too kind.”

“It’s just tea,” he murmured, confused as to why he was suddenly blushing.

Klaus tried to reach for the mug, and when he realized he was too far away he sat up, or better, he slouched forward, until his fingers could curl around the ceramic handle. His hand did a little spasm-like motion, trying to grab the mug multiple times, then fell back against the couch when he couldn’t. Defeated, he looked up at the ceiling, sighing dramatically.

“I’m too weak to pick it up,” he lamented, holding up his hand to Dave and repeating the motion. His fingers didn’t seem to be able to curl all the way, and the more they closed the more his hand started shaking. His voice sounded broken, too, as if he was on the brink of tears, and something inside Dave told him to make it better _immediately_.

“Here,” he leaned forward to pick up the mug himself and held it out for Klaus. Sure, now both of his hands were occupied, and scalding hot tea wasn’t exactly the most comfortable item to have in hand, but he could manage, for Klaus, “Careful not to burn yourself.”

“Awww, Dave,” Klaus sounded even closer to tears now. He curled his hands around Dave’s arm, lifting it up towards his face to take a sip, and Dave quietly paused to make sure that he didn’t slosh the hot liquid around and accidentally pour it all over himself. Once he was done, he lowered Dave’s arm, but didn’t let go of it, “You really are too kind. I bet you would make a perfect boyfriend.”

“Erm-“ he almost chocked over his own saliva, not having remotely expected that sentence, which was just plain weird. He and Klaus were friends, and friends complimented each other all the time. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Not at all. Not one bit.

It was just some guys, being dudes. Nothing weird or wrong about it.

As if he could read the inner struggle he was going through, Klaus suddenly scooted closer, mindful of the teas, and carefully, tentatively, tucked himself against Dave’s side. He wasn’t much shorter than him, usually, but now, all slouched and tired, he seemed small pressed against his arm. He curled up his legs under himself, leaning against Dave’s thigh, and let his head rest against his shoulder. All the while, he didn’t let go of his arm, still held against his chest like a pillow. He was effectively trapped, and he couldn’t find it in himself to be mad about it.

“I mean it, anyone would be lucky to have you,” he murmured, soft enough to seem bashful but still clear enough to be sure Dave heard him. Then, as if he wasn’t already threatening his heart as he was, he leaned up rapidly, just once, and put his nose right against the side of his neck. It was quick enough to leave him confused as to what had just happened, just a brush of his nose and he was gone, back against his chest, but it was close enough to hear an unmistakable intake of breath.

If Dave had to physically restrain himself from leaning his head to the side to give Klaus more access to his neck that was his own thing to beat himself up over.

“Did you just _smell_ me?” he couldn’t help but ask, surprised. He wasn’t neither mad nor scandalized- it wasn’t the first time he had witnessed Klaus clearly sniff a scent out, but it was definitely the first time he had smelled him, specifically. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. It was the first time he had smelled him so closely and clearly, with no attempt at looking casual about it. Usually, he would sniff out scents rapidly, with a quick twitch of his nostrils, and that was it. Going as far as _pressing his nose against his neck_ was totally and remarkably new, and…

And he would be lying if he said it didn’t make him feel things he shouldn’t have been feeling.

“Hmm?” Klaus busied himself with his tea, bringing Dave’s hand up towards his lips again, and now even his touch on his arm was almost too much. Talk about touch starvation, huh? “Did I?” he seemed to sober up for a second and he looked at Dave, scooting a bit further away. He violently suppressed the whine of disappointed that threatened to leave him when he did, “Wait, did I? Oh shit, did-“

“No,” it was a quick decision, the one he made, but he guessed it was for the better. The panicked look on Klaus’s face was enough to tell him that, apparently, sniffing other people like he just had wasn’t something werewolves just did, easily and casually, and that it was probably one of those little actions that the were community obsessed over, much like personal space and casual touches. He also guessed that if he admitted he did Klaus was going to start beating himself over it, and- …and really, he didn’t want him to. They were having such a nice morning, the two of them, and he was selfish, and didn’t want it to be ruined because Klaus lost track of his own muscles for a second, “No, you didn’t.”

Klaus didn’t seem convinced, but when Dave nudged him closer to him, tucking him against his chest by _friendlily_ pressing his cheek against his head, he didn’t push it any further.

He was a very, very selfish man.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *throws a handful of lore at you* STREET SMARTS!!!

Something was wrong. He had no idea what it was, and couldn’t put his finger on it, but he was certain something was off, and it was slowly driving him insane. He had initially thought that it was all just his imagination and that he was overthinking everything as usual, but when even Cha-Cha exchanged a look with him, confused just as much as he was, he became frantic.

Here’s what happened, see. At around seven, after having indulged in some hot tea with Klaus without respecting the good ol’ six feet distance and dangerously sauntering vaguely towards the ‘cuddling’ territory, he got up for work, picking up his stuff and pausing long enough to check that Klaus was coherent enough to be fine without him. The were had brushed him off, telling him that he was being ridiculous- _I have spent every single one of my full moons alone, Davey, this isn’t my first rodeo_ \- but even his mock-annoyed tone couldn’t hide the glint of appreciation in his eyes. Klaus didn’t make it a secret that he enjoyed Dave fussing over him like a mother hen, but Dave tried his best to hide the fact that the feeling was mutual. Liking it when people took care of you was to be expected, liking it when you took care of other people was a slippery slope that led to affection that he didn’t have time to even begin considering the implications of.

Anyway, the point was that he left Klaus’s apartment and all was fine. Klaus was fine. His wolf was fine. Dave was fine, although a little gay, but that was his default state so there was no surprise there.

When he got to the hospital, things were still fine. He parked his car, fine. He walked through the wards leading to his office, fine. He changed into his uniform, fine. He waved hello to Cha-Cha, who suggestively asked him how his night was, knowing damn well that he slept over at Klaus’s, fine. It was fine.

It was when his first were patient came into his office that things started becoming less fine.

Just like any other month, the full moon was one of the few times when werewolves would come to seek medical help, so it wasn’t weird that he now had to tend to a were or two. What was weird was the way said were was looking at him.

A young man, around 19 or so, immediately tensed when he saw him, then proceeded to not meet his eyes for the entirety of the visit. He wouldn’t have thought much of it- werewolves weren’t fans of eye contact with strangers, and it was no secret- if it weren’t for the fact that the poor guy’s eyes were _huge_ , and were constantly jumping around the room, clearly having a hard time figuring out what to focus on. He was obviously uncomfortable, and to prove that even more, he tensed like a violin string when Dave approached him to check for his pulse, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but there with him.

He would have been lying if the encounter didn’t hurt him a bit, but he couldn’t please them all. Not all patients were going to like him, and it was normal for one or two of them to show obvious mistrust or dislike in him, that was just how dealing with humans, and non, was like.

Except that it wasn’t an isolated case. The next were, an elderly gentleman in his 70s, acted very similarly, settling on staring at the ceiling rather than looking at him, while a middle-aged woman became bright red when he placed his stethoscope on her chest. Something was obviously bothering them all, and the common denominator seemed to be Dave, and he had absolutely no clue why.

The tear that broke the camel’s back ended up being a man not much older than him, who outright _refused_ to be visited by him, and by that time he was spiralling. Leaving the flustered and pained-looking man with the first doctor he found, he made his way to Cha-Cha, swirling her around from her paperwork and towards him when he did, “Not to be dramatic but I’m literally about to cry.”

“I suggest waiting for someone more sympathetic to do that, then,” Cha-Cha replied, but behind her sarcasm he could see that she, too, was worried. An isolated phenomenon could be waved away, but four different werewolves showing obvious discomfort in being close to Dave was a problem, a huge one too. The only positive aspect was that his shift was almost over, so he couldn’t do any more damage, “What did you do to them?”

“Nothing!” he cried, then immediately quieted down, not wanting to attract any more attention towards him, “Nothing. I have no idea why they’re all acting like this, I didn’t do anything.”

As most things regarding werewolves often were, he wasn’t going to find an answer until a werewolf themselves showed it to him. That turned out to be the case for that day, too, because after banging his head against a wall with Cha-Cha for a good half an hour, both metaphorically and not, Hazel finally showed up for his shift, his slow walk the only indicator of the aftermath of the full moon, everything about him screaming carefreeness.

As soon as he saw him Dave turned to ask him to _please_ help him figure out what was wrong, but before he could Hazel stopped in his tracks, staring at him with huge eyes, much like his patients had, too. One of his feet was stuck in mid-air, properly frozen in time. It only unnerved him more.

“Hazel, could you-“

“Did you _sleep_ with him?!” Hazel literally squealed, his tone so high pitched it was a wonder it didn’t damage his hearing. His face broke into a smile- it wasn’t exactly happy, it looked like a smile that said ‘I can’t believe this happened and I’m finding it extremely amusing that it did’. As things were, Dave wasn’t too sure _what_ had happened.

“Wh- slept with _who_? What are you talking about?” Dave stepped forward, and Hazel’s smile only widened, showing all of his teeth. Whatever was amusing him it had to be good, because he was also letting his canines show along with them.

“You slept with someone and didn’t tell me?” Cha-Cha jumped in, seemingly offended, and Dave felt like the train of thoughts they were all on was slipping away from him, had no conductor, and was also on fire.

“I didn’t sleep with anyone, and even if I had, there are more pressing issues at the moment,” he raised his hands to try to quiet them both down, still stressed about his patients’ reaction, but hopeful that Hazel had the answer for that, “Now, can we go back to the fact that four different werewolves didn’t want anything to do with me at all?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t blame them,” Hazel scoffed lightly, trying to joke, but it was only when Cha-Cha and Dave looked at him dumbly that he seemed to realize he was a couple of pages ahead of them. With a surprised expression, he sobered up, got a little closer to them, then whispered urgently, “Dave, you _reek_ of werewolf.”

He knew he did, but that didn’t seem to overlap with why everyone was acting so weird around him. Sure, werewolves were extremely sensitive to smells, but him smelling like his friend couldn’t be the reason why everyone avoided him like the plague, “Well, yeah, I spent the night at Klaus’s, but that can’t be it,” he felt like he was mansplaining the matter, but tried not to focus too much on it, “I also spent the night at your and Agnes’s place several times, and nobody ever reacted like this the day after.”

“Of course they didn’t, because my scent had simply rubbed off on you then. This,” Hazel made a motion with his hands indicating all of Dave, finishing by pointing somewhere above his torso, “Is intentional.”

“Holy shit,” Cha-Cha interfered before he could reply to that. She looked at him with a calculating expression, like the wheels were still turning in her head, and he knew she had gotten to it before he had, “Are you saying he scented him?”

“Definitely,” Hazel nodded, his eyes still on Dave, “Do you remember him doing anything that could have resulted in that?”

Dave suddenly remembered very clearly Klaus cuddling closer to him on the couch, rapidly but clearly sticking his nose against his neck, and immediately felt like an idiot. He blushed, and Hazel just held a hand out towards him, as if saying, _well, there you have it_.

He _knew_ about scenting. He had minored in lycanthropology, for fuck’s sake, there was really no excuse for him to not connect the dots sooner. Like Hazel had said, humans picking up werewolves' scents on accident wasn’t unheard of, and was so common that werewolves barely reacted to it. If a werewolf intentionally scented a human, however, it was wildly different. Leaving such a strong scent on somebody meant it was done with purpose, specifically to warn other werewolves off, and it was really no surprise that his patients had reacted so badly to him. Without context, they had just sensed another were’s presence in a place that they had until then thought was neutral ground, and it had most likely stressed them to no end.

He was a ginormous idiot.

“Fuck,” he eloquently said, rubbing a hand over his face. He needed to apologize to all of his patients as soon as he could, it was really a huge slip on his part for not fixing the issue any sooner, “He didn’t do it on purpose, I didn’t think it would result in this.”

“How did he not do it on purpose?” Cha-Cha frowned, then turned to Hazel, who was now looking at Dave with a mix of amusement and sympathy in his eyes, “Is that even possible?”

“It’s not unlikely that he did it on instinct without being fully aware of it, but, er,” Hazel scratched the back of his head, and Dave knew he was never going to hear the end of it, “He had to be close to do that. Like, really close.”

Hazel did his best to try and lay it down gently on him, but once he met Cha-Cha’s gaze Dave knew it was over for him. They both moved their gaze to him, with a recognizable glint of amusement and mischief in their eyes, and Dave felt even more like an idiot, “Can we please not do this now?” he rubbed his eyes, feeling a headache building behind them. He was _so_ tired, “Please?”

Cha-Cha seemed to take pity on him, because she sighed, picking up her paperwork, “This conversation isn’t over, mister,” she said, before vanishing towards his office. He didn’t need to ask to know that she was going to clean up the place so that any lingering scent would be gone.

Now alone with Hazel, Dave looked up at him, sheepish, “In werewolf terms, how bad is it?”

Hazel did look apologetic then, and he knew whatever he was about to say wasn’t going to be any good, at all, “How much do you want me to sugar coat it?”

“Just enough to not lose whatever is left of my sanity.”

The werewolf shifted on his feet, trying to find a nice way to put things as they were. He was still six feet away from Dave, and considering that they had been friends long enough to bypass what was considered to be the officially accepted social distance it hurt a bit, “To us, it’s like a territory claim.”

Dave winced, squirming uncomfortably, “Don’t… say it like that…”

“Dave, that’s the best I can say it to make you understand,” Hazel’s tone was soft, but also firm, as if he didn’t want to put too much pressure on Dave but also wanted to let him know just how much of an idiot he was for not realizing sooner, “You smell like you have ‘Klaus’s’ written all over you. Sure, he didn’t do it on purpose- which I still don’t fully believe, but whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess- but scents don’t care about technicalities.”

He buried his face in his hands, trying- and failing- to hide a blush. God, he hated his life, “He really did not do it on purpose, he was so out of, it’s like he was drunk.”

“You know, just the fact that he let you stay throughout the full moon is enough proof of it being intentional, if you ask me,” Hazel was still looking at him with that oddly calculating gaze he had been wearing since he walked in, and it was starting to feel suffocating, “It took me years before I let Agnes anywhere near me around the full moon, and she’s my wife, not some random dude I met at work.”

“For the last time, it was for medical reasons-”

“Whatever you youngsters like to call it nowadays,” Hazel shrugged, then apparently decided that the conversation was over, approaching the nurses’ desk and rummaging through the day’s paperwork, “Now get out of here and go take a shower, you’re unnerving to look at.”

* * *

After a refreshing shower that left him with his skin puffy and red with how much he scrubbed it to get Klaus’s scent off of him, he packed up his stuff, ready to head back home, make himself some sad and self-loathing meal, and possibly fall asleep at 8 pm. 

He wasn’t angry at Klaus for what he did. He had taken care of the guy himself, he knew he hadn’t been coherent in the least, and he couldn’t hold it against him even if he had wanted to. What unnerved him was that he hadn’t realized sooner what the problem was. He made four different people feel uncomfortable and unsafe with him and it took Hazel to make him realize what the issue was. He didn’t want to sound dramatic, but he felt kind of like a failure if he was honest. 

Any negativity he had lingering left him all at once when he reached the hall, though, and was greeted by the sight of Klaus himself, waiting for him. He was standing carefully away from other people, no doubt finding the hospital’s numerous scents headache-inducing, and he was pointedly looking away from Hazel, sat at his desk a couple of meters to his left. 

Dave knew for a fact that according to the weird unspoken laws of theirs, the hospital- much like airports and public transport- was common neutral ground for werewolves, as they all needed to be sure they could access it without offending anyone, but he also knew Hazel was the only werewolf who worked there, so all the other weres had unconsciously started to refer to it as part of his territory. It was weird, and he was sure he would never understand- not only under a cultural aspect but also from a geopolitical point of view, he never truly figured out how were territories worked- what was certain was that even Klaus seemed to agree with that because he was carefully not looking at Hazel, in a way that, for how odd it might be, could be defined as meek. Considering how much of a sweetheart the nurse was, it truly was weird.

“Hey,” Dave greeted Klaus once he reached him, bypassing the six feet distance as he would have with any other friend. On his part, the were carefully stepped back, making sure they weren’t in each other’s personal space, pointedly avoiding his gaze. Dave felt like a hole had just opened in his stomach, “Are you okay?”

Klaus looked pained for a second, debating whether he should look up at him or keep this submissive act he had opted for. In the end, the latter seemed to win, though he did look up sideways at him, staring bashfully at his shoulder rather than his eyes, “Can we talk? In private?”

“Sure,” it was obvious something was bothering Klaus, deeply, and Dave guessed he had somehow figured out that during the post-moon delirium he had scented him, then promptly freaked himself out. He couldn’t blame him, but also wanted to let him know he wasn’t in any way angry at him, “Do you want me to drive you back to your place?”

“No, I mean-“ Klaus did look up then, and it was enough to show the bags under his eyes, similar to the ones Hazel was showing. Hazel who, under the guise of working, was very unsubtly listening onto their conversation like the nosy wolf he was, “Can we talk here?”

Klaus didn’t specify any further, but Dave read between the lines. _Can we talk here, on neutral ground, and not in your car where everything smells like you?_ “Of course.”

He led Klaus down the corridor, intending to go back to his office to talk. Then he remembered that Cha-Cha had just disinfected it up and probably wasn’t a good idea, so he swerved at the last moment and ended up in a supply closet. Klaus didn’t seem to mind, immediately starting pacing in the small space there like a caged animal as soon as the door closed.

After a couple of seconds, Dave decided to take pity on him, holding up a hand to calm him down. He didn’t attempt to grab him and stop him, because he wasn’t sure he would bear it if he flinched away from his touch. It had been a long day, “Klaus, it’s okay-“

“It really isn’t, Dave,” the were snapped right back. From the tone, he could tell he was mad at himself, but it still hurt as if he had been mad at him instead, “Do you have any idea what I did?”

“You scented me,” Dave easily supplied. It seemed as if Klaus had already figured out that Dave knew, so he probably remembered everything that had happened that morning and realized what he had done. He wondered if he remembered everything that he had said, too… “It’s okay, I don’t hold it against you.”

“I scented you _without your consent_ ,” Klaus did stop then, sizing him up with a wild gaze. Dave tried not to look away under his intense eyes, feeling like the were needed that reassurance, “I don’t know what you think scenting is, but it’s really really bad, what I did-“

“Hazel said it’s like a territory thing,” Dave blurted out, then promptly blushed. Klaus looked like he was in physical pain.

“Don’t say it like _that_ ,” he pleaded, quietly, as if it was taking him a huge effort to remain calm during that conversation.

“That’s what I said, too, but listen, Klaus, it’s okay-“ Klaus tried to speak again and now Dave did reach out to cover his mouth with his hand. He wasn’t sure whether it was his hand or simply his touch that shut him up immediately but the were let him continue, “I don’t blame you. I know it’s extremely personal for you guys but you were absolutely out of it, you had no power over it.”

“That is no excuse, at all,” Klaus moved his hand away and both his tone and eyes were painfully serious now, “It’s something extremely personal and intimate, I should have never slipped like that. It would be like kissing you with the excuse that I’m tired, it makes no sense, wouldn’t you hate it?”

_Not one bit_ , Dave thought.

“I mean-“ Dave said, but Klaus stopped him with both hands raised. _Hello_ and _Goodbye_ looked right back at him as Dave prayed to whatever god was listening to not make Klaus realize just how much on board he was with the idea of kissing him (though he would very much prefer it if he was perfectly coherent for it, thank you very much).

“What I did is inexcusable and I will make sure it never happens again,” Klaus said, almost solemnly. He had seemed to have accepted that Dave wasn’t holding it against him, but also refused to be justified by that, “Please give my formal apologies to the werewolves I may have inconvenienced today.”

“Klaus, it’s okay,” now that he was touching him, Klaus seemed to be relaxing, probably soothed either by his proximity or warmth. Or maybe he was confusing wolves with lizards. Anyway, he loosely hung an arm over his shoulders, drawing him in a soft hug he could have gotten free of without any sort of effort. Klaus hugged him back firmly, with no qualm about it, “I should be the one to apologize to them, I should have realized sooner what was going on.”

“It’s a werewolf thing, you have to let me do it,” Klaus mumbled against his shoulder, head carefully tucked away from Dave’s neck, as if scared to tempt fate again.

“Now you’re just making stuff up,” he let his arms slowly fall down from Klaus’s middle, finally loosening the hug only when the were did, and smiled softly at him, “Are we good?”

Klaus looked at him as if he had just grown a second head, “You ask me? You’re the one who was scented up by a werewolf without his consent.”

“Well, then, we’re good,” he chuckled. He truly hoped the accident wouldn’t jeopardize their friendship any further, he cared too much for Klaus to have it ruined by something so easily fixable, “Lift home?”

Klaus did a show of pretending to refuse the lift, talking about needing to pick up jogging again although he was still slightly trembling from the full moon from time to time, and happily followed him out of the closet and towards the front doors. Neither of them noticed Cha-Cha and Hazel looking at them both as they left, chatting happily, and they definitely didn’t hear them either.

“I bet 20 bucks they’re together in two months.”

Hazel considered it for a second, watching Klaus unconsciously match his steps to Dave, “Make it one.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the early update, I have an exam tomorrow and I need all of my brain cells to focus on crying over it so here we are

After that episode, and the awkwardness that had ensued, the two of them went back to being as friendly and affectionate with one another as ever, any sort of lingering embarrassment gone. It was almost as if the accident had never happened, and it probably was, considering that both of them violently repressed its existence, bottling it all up, and as soon as Klaus recovered from the full moon they were back on track.

Now that the worst was over, and that nothing particularly tragic had happened at Klaus’s flat, there was virtually no reason to keep meeting up. His wolf apparently had no problem with him being in its territory, so any effort of familiarizing himself with Dave would be overdone at this point, but it didn’t matter. It was now clear to both of them that they simply enjoyed each other's company, and started seeking it out even without the guise of the mess they had both found themselves caught into.

When before Klaus would call him or text him, asking to meet up in locations increasingly closer to his flat in order to get used to Dave’s presence, now the two would hang out more naturally, going out for the sake of it and with no real purpose. Hell, they even became comfortable enough to hang out at Klaus’s flat a couple of times, watching a movie or simply enjoying each other’s presence, there was no going around it, the two of them had become proper friends.

Dave couldn’t be any happier. He had been worried sick that Klaus would eventually grow to resent him and see him as nothing more than a nuisance, but the were had made it explicitly clear that he was everything but. It was Klaus that initiated most of their conversation, no doubt feeling that Dave was trying to give him space to distance himself if needed, and there were even a couple of times when he had defined him as his friend, literally, and however much his perception of himself was messed up he really couldn’t ignore the obvious.

Was there a part of him that kept pushing to seek something more than that? A part that found Klaus endearingly beautiful, in a way that wasn’t platonic at all? Well, yes. Was he going to listen to that nagging part of him? Absolutely not. Friendship with Klaus was, quite frankly, the best thing that had happened to him in the last couple of years. He was too busy with his work and his own tendency to enjoy his own company that he had barely made any friends in his latest years, so much that if you didn’t count Hazel and Cha-Cha he had a hard time trying to name how many people he spoke to regularly. He wasn’t going to ruin the best friendship he had had in the last five years purely because he was attracted to his friend. He was an idiot, but not this much of an idiot.

With that being said, there were still some things that the two of them didn’t know about each other. It wasn’t a matter of secrecy, they didn’t really feel the need for any of that, it was simply because they had so much in common, and so many things they liked to talk about, that they hadn’t managed to cover every little topic yet, leaving some uncharted. Family happened to be one of those topics, as Dave only knew that Klaus and his siblings were all werewolves and all adopted, nothing more, and it seemed like the time for him to find out more about them had finally come.

It was in a cafeteria, over a cup of coffee and some books, that it happened. Dave had been busy with his laptop, frowning over a diagram of the human brain for the latest psychology refresher training, while Klaus was half reading his book, half looking at him from time to time, sipping his latte with an outrageous amount of sugar in it. Dave kept acting like he didn’t see him, but every time Klaus’s gaze strayed from his book and ended up on him he felt like going on fire. His eyes were always kind, focusing on his hand, or his creased forehead, but they were still enough to make him lose track of what he was reading, and have to go through the entire paragraph again, having absorbed none of it. Considering how much his heart would beat whenever it happened, there was no way Klaus didn't know what he was doing, and for some reason, he still didn't feel the need to stop.

Then, out of the blue, Klaus suddenly tensed, and he seemed to completely forget both his book and Dave, subtly straining his neck to look at the main entrance, nose twitching. Dave paid no attention to it, as he had seen him do that countless times. That was simply Klaus noticing the presence of another werewolf, and making sure that the other was aware of him, too, and that neither of them had any bad intention. It was one of his little rituals, and it lasted only a couple of seconds, enough for the two werewolves to acknowledge each other, and most times you wouldn’t notice it taking place unless you were paying very close attention to your surroundings.

After the usual couple of seconds, though, Klaus did not relax, nor did he go back to his book and his Dave-watching activity, which made him look up from his laptop and give him a quick frown of inquiry. The were paid him no attention, focusing on something that was moving over his shoulder, and frowned in… annoyance? Exasperation?

Confused, Dave turned just in time for the object of Klaus’s attention to walk up to their table, and he distantly registered his hindbrain going off like a fire alarm, too busy with what he was seeing to properly pay attention to it. Two men stood next to them, one much taller and burlier than the other, and they were both smiling down at Klaus, one politely while the smaller one more mischievously. Now, ‘smaller’ might have been deceiving. Both guys were huge. One of them had what looked like pounds upon pounds of muscles stacked on top of his shoulders, making his clothes strain with the effort of keeping them covered, while the other looked rough, with a huge scar running across the side of his face, and something about him that told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to be messed with.

They were werewolves, that much was painfully obvious. Unlike Klaus, who could have passed as any other person thanks to his bizarre looks and fragile-looking figure, the two men looked completely the part. Scar guy had sharp eyes and teeth, poking out of his lips with a grin, and he seemed to be doing absolutely nothing to try and hide them away and try to blend in as a human, while the other guy… well. Dave knew what a werewolf who didn’t take ormonebital looked like, could recognize it in their hair-covered skin and towering figure, and that was definitely it. 

“Well, well, well, look who’s here,” scar guy sing-sang, raising a hand to ruffle Klaus’s hair. The werewolf immediately reacted, grabbing his wrist before he could touch him, apparently effortlessly, and the other were only smiled more brightly, “What a total and complete coincidence.”

“Are you guys serious right now?” Klaus whined, looking back and forth between the two men. He didn’t seem alarmed nor on guard, which made Dave breathe out a quiet sigh of relief, knowing they weren't in any immediate danger. He simply looked annoyed, very much so, and it didn’t take long for Dave to do two plus two and realize that those were definitely Klaus’s siblings. The bartender, who in the meanwhile had stopped going over the counter and just looked at the three werewolves warily, seemed to realize that too, and happy to know that no fight was about to break out in her cafeteria she visibly relaxed and went back to work, “Did Ben tell you I was here or did you stalk me?”

“You say that like Diego isn’t capable of finding out where anyone is in less than five minutes,” the other guy muttered, very unsubtly looking down at Dave’s side of the table. His eyes visibly lit up at the sight of the donut he had ordered, which was frankly adorable, considering he looked nothing short of intimidating, “Oooh they sell donuts? I’m kind of craving donuts right now, actually...”

“Too bad, that’s the last one they had,” Klaus clasped his hands in front of him, fake smile plastered on his face, and scooted over on his booth, trying to fill it as much as possible. Scar guy, whose name was Diego, apparently, seemed to notice that, and smiled even more, “So I guess we’ll have to go each on their own way, what a pity.”

He scooted over once more, probably trying to condition his siblings into not sitting along with them, as the booths were _obviously_ too small to fit them all, but he got the opposite effect. With a quick nod to each other, the two weres sat in unison in the small space left beside Dave and Klaus on their respective booths, consequently making them both scoot over to accommodate them. Dave happily did so, loving meeting new people, especially if they were related to Klaus, while the were in question groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands.

“Now, that’s a bit excessive, don’t you think?” Diego shook his head at Klaus before turning towards Dave, smile now more polite than mischievous, though he could tell he was plotting something, “Hey there, I’m Diego, and this is Luther, Klaus’s brothers. And you are?”

“Don’t answer him.”

“Dave,” he happily supplied, loving seeing Klaus so adorably flustered by his siblings. They didn’t seem to be doing any harm so far, only teasing their brother, and it’s not like he didn’t want to know more about Klaus and his family, so he decided to go along with whatever Diego had in mind, “Klaus did mention some siblings, I was curious to meet you.”

“You heard that, Klaus? He was curious,” Diego smiled brightly at his brother, who simply flipped him off, head still hidden between his hands, “What do you do in life, Dave?”

“Don’t tell him.”

“I’m a doctor,” Dave told him. He could see that it was a legitimate question, and Diego wasn’t just messing around, so he guessed that Klaus hadn’t told his siblings- or at the very least not these two- about his accident with his wolf, and that he had needed Dave’s help. He decided to follow along with whatever Klaus had told them, not supplying any more information, “I work in the ER, mostly.”

“A doctor,” Luther nodded thoughtfully. He was so big he barely fit on the booth, and Klaus was squished between him and the wall, “That’s definitely a, uh… what is it called? A keep-“

Klaus elbowed his brother in the side, hard, and went bright red. Luther muttered something about him being between a rock and a hard place, and that he needed to calm down before he squished him, while Diego paid them very little attention, nonchalantly draping an arm around Dave’s shoulder like they were old pals, “A doctor! How interesting!”

For some odd reason, Diego only seemed to rile his brother up even more with that. He didn’t do anything noteworthy, he just started telling some childhood story involving the three of them and their siblings, as well as the troubles they’d get up to, but through it all, Klaus seemed uneasy. He kept nodding along with Diego and Luther’s stories, even contributing with his own every now and then, but Dave could see the tension in his neck, and how his gaze kept flickering over to Diego.

At some point, Klaus even briefly _growled_ at him. It was quick and he immediately suppressed it, sheepishly looking around to be sure nobody else in the cafeteria had heard him, but it had definitely been there, just as Diego was telling a funny joke to Dave, squeezing his shoulder amiably. He didn’t know exactly what was going on between the two- and whether Luther was in on it or was as confused as he was, since he didn’t seem to be doing much to annoy his brother- but it was clear Diego was deliberately pressing Klaus’s buttons, like siblings usually do.

Or at least he assumed that was what was happening. He was an only child, and the only frame of reference he had was how his childhood friends would tease their own siblings, often ending up tackling them too. Diego annoying Klaus for the sake of it seemed to fit in that kind of narrative easily enough for him to find it a reasonable explanation.

After a good twenty minutes or so of mostly friendly chit chatter, Diego and Luther seemed to decide that they were done hijacking their breakfast, and stood up. Klaus visibly relaxed once Diego left Dave’s side, and was now more clearly at ease, which comforted him. He didn’t think he had actually found his siblings insufferable, but it was nice to see he enjoyed their visit, though the lingering annoyance didn’t leave his expression.

“Well, it was lovely, but I think that’s enough socializing for one day,” Diego shrugged, as Luther wandered over to the counter, no doubt asking after the donut he still seemed to be craving. The woman at the counter visibly jumped when she saw him, but was quick enough to recover from it.

“Likewise,” Dave nodded, and meant it, then, for some reason he really didn’t know, even said, “Until next time, then.”

Diego’s eyes visibly lit up in surprise, and he gave him a small, genuine smile, which made him feel warm all over. He had said something that somebody close to Klaus had _liked_. He had no idea where the sudden pride for his accomplishment came from but he took it nonetheless.

Klaus only groaned at that, rambling something about how even alluding to the four of them being in the same room together again was enough nightmare fuel for months, but Diego stopped him mid-sentence, pushing his face away with a loud exasperated groan. Klaus’s teeth poked out of his lips in an indignant snarl but his brother was quick to pull his hand away before disappearing in the direction of Luther, now with a clear glister of sugar on his chin and a donut in hand.

Once the two brothers had gone, awaking everyone’s dormant pray brain on their way out, Dave smiled at Klaus, still pouting in annoyance, “They seem cool.”

“You say that because you didn't grow up with them,” the were muttered, fixing his hair where Diego had pushed his face away. Even with his obvious unhappiness with his brother’s antics, he couldn’t hide an affectionate smile as he spoke of his family, which was… well, simply adorable, “Luther was daddy’s favourite, so he was more annoying to be around than anything, but Diego really put all of himself into riling me up. We’d end up fighting most of the time.”

Dave thought a whole litter of werewolves left unattained long enough for two of them to brawl sounded like a recipe for disaster, but he didn’t say it. From the way Klaus had told him the little story, it sounded like he thought that, too. Rather, he just opened his laptop again, loading up his refresher training file he had been agonizing over, “I thought you were about to fight now, too. It seemed like he was annoying you a lot.”

Something flickered across Klaus’s eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had made its entrance. He just shrugged, and took a sip of his latte, pulling a face when he realized it had gone cold, “You wouldn’t get it. Only children are too privileged to truly get how annoying siblings can be.”

“Mhmm,” Dave nodded, not even looking up from his laptop, “Friendly reminder that it was this privileged only child that paid for your breakfast, mister.”

Klaus seemed to take that as a challenge. He reached across the table to grab Dave’s donut and took a bite of it before settling it back on its napkin. Dave just deadpanned back to him, trying with all of his might not to smile at the sight of the werewolf with his cheeks full of donut, “Watcha gonna do about it?”

* * *

“You know, I never figured out what caused all of this.”

Hazel looked up from his crosswords puzzle. It was a calm, quiet day at work, so the two of them were wasting their time away as they waited for their shift to be over. Dave was on the other side of the break room, doodling nonsense on some old paperwork that he wasn’t entirely sure they didn’t need anymore, but at that point certainly hoped they didn’t, “What caused what?”

“Klaus’s wolf’s behaviour,” he tried with all of his might to not let his tongue stick out of his mouth as he coloured in the tiny mask of the little raccoon he had found himself doodling. It was something that he had always hated about himself, he thought it made him look ridiculous, but since Klaus had noticed it once and commented on how cute he looked he had started liking it, a little bit, “The shots pretty much cured him, which is great, but it would’ve been much better to just find the reason behind his self-aggression and solve it once and for all. It’s a shame I never did…”

That day, the day of the full moon, was the last time he was going over to Klaus’s flat for the shots, and he had to admit he was going to miss their routine. Don’t get him wrong, he was ecstatic that Klaus felt much better, and that the cuts and gashes on his arms hadn’t returned, but he couldn’t help feel a little bummed. The cure was supposed to last much longer than it actually did, but Klaus had reacted so well to it he was pretty much set to go, and he couldn't really continue it simply because he liked it.

Lucky for him, he and Klaus had become pretty much inseparable since the day it all started. The two of them simply clicked well together, and he knew, even without saying it, that Klaus’s treatment being over didn’t mean their friendship also was. Klaus had started making plans for the following weeks, never seeming to care to point out that they didn’t _need_ to see each other again, and Dave was the happiest he had ever been. He was truly glad to have met Klaus, though he wished the circumstances had been a bit more forgiving on his part.

And, sure, maybe he did feel something more than mere friendship towards the were. Hell, who was he kidding. He was fairly certain he was head over heels for him. Every time he saw him, talked to him, texted him, or even just thought about him his heart seemed to threaten to leave his ribcage, and this deep feeling of yearning settled itself into his stomach, acting like it was completely normal and reasonable for it to be there. It was nauseating at times, but he just needed Klaus to smile at him or touch him, and it made it all worth it. Sure, maybe Klaus didn’t feel the same, and maybe never would, and although the thought crushed him a little he wouldn’t trade their time together for anything, even if it meant he would never get anything more than that.

Hazel, completely unaware of his inner pining, frowned at him. His eyes glinted under the fluorescent lights, and his beard seemed fuller than usual, a clear sign that his body was already reacting to the nearing full moon, “You didn’t?”

Dave leaned back to admire his handiwork. The little blue raccoon that stared back at him looked oddly familiar, and it took him longer than he would have liked to realize he had unconsciously drawn in Klaus’s signature facial hair, “I tried to, but couldn’t. Klaus doesn’t think anything could have triggered that reaction, so I didn’t even have any leads.”

His friend pursed his lips, looking oddly conflicted. He had now abandoned his crosswords and was looking at him with a puzzling expression, “Do you…” he paused, squinting at Dave, as if trying to see something in particular in him. After a moment he continued, and Dave wondered if he saw it, “…want to know?”

Dave frowned, “You mean you have a theory for why it happened?” Hazel kept looking at him oddly, and he was now starting to get worried. If he already had an idea of why Klaus’s wolf had freaked out as much as it had, why hadn’t he shared it with him already? It didn’t make sense.

“I do, but if you haven’t gotten to it on your own yet I don’t know if you might actually want to.”

That only made even less sense. Dave shook his head, feeling dumb, “Wh- huh?” maybe it was the eight hours shift, but Hazel’s cryptic way of talking was stressing him out, “What are you talking about?”

Apparently taking pity on him, Hazel stood up, making his way over to him. He glanced quickly at both the windows and the door in the room, the predator in him making itself known, and the hair on the back of Dave’s neck stood up anxiously. It was a reaction he had witnessed countless of times, whenever Klaus or Hazel or any other werewolf for the matter did something that could be classified as uncanny, so it didn’t surprise him in the least, “Do you remember your first encounter with Klaus?”

Dave almost outright laughed at that. Like he didn’t constantly think back to it, and at how much of an impression the were had made on him. Hazel settled himself on the couch next to him, a good couple of feet away, and everything about him made it look like a therapy session, “Of course, he came in for his ormonebital.”

“Right,” Hazel scratched an itch on his side, and Dave politely pretended to not see his foot move unconsciously. Pointing out his scratch reflex would be just plain rude, “And when did you see him again after that?”

He couldn’t help but feel like the nurse was trying to walk him through his own theory, trying to make him figure it out on his own, and he wasn’t sure whether he appreciated it or found it unnerving, “A couple of weeks later, after the full moon.”

Hazel nodded, “And he was all scratched up.”

“That’s a euphemism, but yeah.”

“And he had no idea why.”

“Right.”

“And neither did you.”

“…Right.”

“And you still don’t.”

The two of them looked at each other in silence for a while. Hazel was obviously waiting for the other shoe to drop for Dave, but he hadn’t even heard the first one, “Hazel, do you have something to tell me?”

The were sighed lowly, a sound that was close to a growl. He shifted so that his hands were free, and started gesticulating wildly with them, “Let me set this straight for you, although it might be hard, considering…” he shrugged a shoulder, pointing vaguely at Dave. He pretended he hadn’t heard the bad pun, “Klaus comes in for the first time, he’s fine. He comes in the second time, he’s not fine. You two start hanging out, he’s suddenly fine again.”

“I wouldn’t say we were _hanging out_ -“

“Oh for fuck’s sake, listen to me for a second,” Hazel moved closer to him, now almost looking wild in his efforts to explain the concept. He rubbed his eyes, then looked back up at him, his tapetum shining under the light, “There’s a pattern here, and I refuse to believe you’re not bright enough to catch up on it.”

Dave did see a pattern in Hazel’s quick summary, but he still couldn’t find a reason behind it, “You’re saying whatever caused Klaus’s condition, it happened between our first and second meeting?”

Hazel looked borderline murderous now, “I’m saying _you_ are the reason why it happened.”

His tone was almost desperate, like he had been waiting to tell Dave for a while, and he wondered how long he had been pondering it. He also wondered why the idea of him being the reason behind Klaus’s distress suddenly gave him a stomachache, “What? No,” he frowned, trying to think back to the series of events that had led them there. He couldn’t be the reason behind all of it, it just didn’t make sense, “Why would I?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” now that Dave was on the same page as him Hazel looked a bit more relaxed, “You said it yourself, werewolves tend to act up when under emotional turmoil-“

“Yeah but the only times it had been proved involved divorced or widowed weres,” Dave cut in, his brain whirling with thoughts and theories, and none of them seemed to overlap with Hazels’s, “Why would his wolf decide point-blank to act like that if he barely knew me when it started?”

“Why not?” Hazel asked again, then held up his hands when Dave went to protest once more, “This is just my theory. Klaus met you, and he immediately liked you. His wolf liked you too, didn’t like you two being apart, and tried to communicate it to him in the only way it knew how to. He showed up again to ask for your help and you have been inseparable since,” he made a weird motion with his hands, trying to correlate cause and effect, and Dave felt like he was drowning in the sea of information he was bringing up out of apparently nowhere, “His wolf got what he wanted, you, and so it stopped acting up.”

Dave started at him for a long while. If Hazel’s theory proved to be true, if all of that mess had surged up simply because Klaus’s wolf _liked him_ , then- ...he really couldn’t even begin to think about the consequences of that sentence alone, “Wh- why are you acting so sure of it?” his tone was oddly high-pitched, but he didn’t blame himself. All that time he was trying to figure out something that apparently _he_ was the cause of, it was overwhelming, “How did you figure it out? Did you speak to Klaus? What’s your source?”

“Source?” Hazel snorted, seemingly amused by Dave’s reaction, “Dave this is real life, not Tumblr. And unless you have forgotten, I am a werewolf,” he shrugged, “I simply connected the dots.”

Dave felt like he was about to implode, “You can’t just say something like _that_ and just shrug it off like it’s supposed to be obvious!”

For him to be the cause of all that mess it meant he had really made an impression on Klaus. A ginormous impression. An impression so large that Klaus’s goddamn _subconscious_ had suddenly decided to make itself known to communicate that discovery to Klaus himself. Hell, he had seen Klaus’s bloodied arms after it had happened, and to think it was because of _him_ … it was nauseating. He wished he had never met Klaus so that none of it would have ever happened, and at the same time, he wished to be with him, to make sure it never happened again.

He didn’t want to believe Hazel’s theory, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Klaus had recovered too quickly for it to have been resolved simply with some shots. His wolf had gotten what he wanted- which, apparently, was Dave all along- and simply stopped his antics by its own accord.

“To be fair, I did ask you if you wanted to know,” Hazel now seemed sympathetic, and it only made Dave despise him. Goddamn know-it-all wolf with his plausible theories and facts, and the looks and mannerisms of an Animal Crossing character that immediately made him feel bad for even thinking all of that, “Why are you so distraught? Aren’t you, like, in love with him? This is proof that he loves you too!”

“You don’t know that,” he whined, feeling helplessly pathetic. He was so shaken by the revelation that he didn’t even try to deny his feelings for Klaus, “His wolf liking me doesn’t necessarily translate into him liking me, too. Maybe he doesn’t and his wolf is forcing all of this on him!”

“Or maybe not,” the nurse hummed, as Dave hid his face in his hands as if that would protect him for the existential crisis he was going through, “There’s only one way to find out, and it’s to confess.”

“Haha,” Dave deadpanned, as if a man expressing his feelings for another man was just easy peasy, “Very funny. When’s your Netflix stand-up special coming out?”

“Sooner than you are, it seems,” Hazel deadpanned right back, “There is another way to prove my theory, actually, but Klaus might not like it.”

The prospect of it didn’t sit well with him, but neither did straight up confessing his love for a man that might not feel remotely the same for him, “I’m all ears.”

Hazel didn’t speak for a while, just looked at him. Then slowly, giving Dave enough time to back away if he wished to, he closed the distance between them, engulfing him in a hug. He was incredibly soft, so much that Dave’s voice ended up being muffled against his shoulder, “What are you doing?”

“Breakdancing,” Hazel replied, just a little over his ear. He tucked his head against his shoulder, careful to steer away of his neck, and Dave’s brain lit up like a Christmas tree. He was purposefully avoiding scenting him, but also making sure he smelled like him. No werewolf would react to another were’s innocent presence on a human, unless…

“If he reacts at all to that,” Hazel pulled away, looking way too smug, “Then you’ll know.”

Dave now understood why Klaus might not like it. Hazel had set out the perfect trap to figure out just how much Klaus cared about Dave. If he reacted, it meant he, his wolf, or possibly both, did not like the prospect of another were being so close to Dave.

In human terms, Hazel was tricking Klaus into acting jealous, just to prove his theory. And as ridiculous as it might be, Dave couldn’t wait to see how that would turn out.


	8. Chapter 8

When he got to Klaus’s flat it was still relatively early, a little over a couple of hours before the full moon, which was a total coincidence and not something he did on purpose because he wanted to spend a little more time with Klaus, of course. As soon as his shift was over he changed, mindful of not showering to avoid letting Hazel’s plan go to waste, and drove to the were’s apartment, not even bothering to pass from his own flat to leave his stuff there or pick up a change of clothes. He might seem a little desperate, but he had his reasons.

Klaus had given him a pair of his keys, something that his dumb lizard brain still liked to glee over whenever he saw them dangling next to his own, so he let himself in without a problem, immediately smiling when he saw Klaus sprawled on his couch, an arm draped dramatically over his face. He seemed to be shivering slightly but didn’t feel compelled to pace his apartment back and forth yet, so he assumed the moon was letting him have some peace for now.

“Hey,” he made his presence known as he closed the front door behind him, though he knew Klaus had most likely heard him from the moment he had parked his car. The man in question lifted a hand as a greeting, still facing the ceiling with that defeated look of his, “How are we feeling?”

Klaus did look up then, putting an arm behind his head so that he could fix him up with a glare more pointedly. Dave just smiled right back at him, “No offence, but this is in no way a ‘we’ situation.”

“I take that as a ‘fine, thank you’,” he teased back, making his way into the room as he shrugged off his coat. He tried not to obsess too much over what Hazel had told him earlier: regardless of what his coworker thought was best, he didn’t want to corner Klaus into admitting or denying whether he felt something for him or not, he was pretty sure he didn’t even have the stomach to do it. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t paying much closer attention to Klaus’s movements and reactions, though, and he hoped he didn’t look too odd as he did, “I got you something to eat on my way here.”

Klaus didn’t answer for a second, and Dave could see his nose twitching as he worked over a scent. He wondered if he was smelling him or the food, “You got me food?” he said, oddly emotional. He wondered if it was due to the full moon or he just never had anyone buy him something unprompted, “Aw, Dave, you shouldn’t have.”

Dave made a lazy little motion with his hand, both waving off Klaus’s gratitude and the dumb part of his brain that unhelpfully let him know that _you provided food for him, the wolf must be pleased_. Before he could make his way to the kitchen to put their food away, knowing that Klaus wasn’t going to be able to eat anything until the whole deal was over, the were shakily stood up, leaning on his couch for help. He was quite pale, and his pupils were wide, but apart from that he seemed fully coherent.

“I just want to thank you properly,” his tone was sombre and serious, and Dave was taken aback, “I don't know what I would have done without you, and I feel much better thanks to you-“ and if Hazel’s theory was correct, in more than one way… ”So… thank you.”

“I just did what anyone else would have done,” Dave shifted from side to side, not sure what to make of the mood of the room. Klaus’s tone and speech seemed particularly pointed, which for someone who joked and messed around as often as he did was quite weird.

“You and I both know that’s not true, so don’t try that,” the were stepped closer to him, though still respecting his personal space, and from so up close he could see his pointy teeth as he spoke, “You went out of your way to help me, and I don’t know how I could thank you properly.”

He held out his arms, then, pointedly looking at the floor, and it took Dave way too long to realize it was an invitation for a hug. Klaus wanted to hug him, but also didn’t want to do anything that Dave might not appreciate. God, social cues were hard…

“Shut it, you don’t owe me anything,” he scolded him as he wrapped him up in a hug, loving the way the were immediately reacted to his touch, snaking his arms around his back. Tiptoeing closer to him so that he wasn’t leaning all of his weight on Dave. The way he tucked his head against his neck.

It was a very subtle movement, so subtle that had he not been waiting for it he probably would have missed it. Under the guise of hugging him, Klaus ever so slowly rubbed his cheek against Dave’s shoulder. To any witnesser it might have looked like nothing out of the ordinary, just some guy hugging another guy, brushing him with affection, but knowing the trap Hazel had set, Dave immediately realized what Klaus was doing.

His face was steering clear of his neck, preferring to face the outside rather than the inside of Dave’s shoulder, evidently not wanting to repeat the same mistake twice and accidentally scent him again, but there was no missing the way he subtly smothered Hazels’s scent off of him. He couldn’t sense it, but Dave knew he had stopped smelling like his coworker when Klaus finally pulled back, looking happier than before and more relaxed.

Dave’s rational brain asked itself what the fuck had just happened. Scents made no sense to it and trying to give meaning to something he couldn’t feel seemed utterly idiotic to it.

Dave’s scientific brain, on the other side, was whirling with realizations. Hazel was right. He had meant the little experiment to work with a more out-of-it Klaus, so close to the full moon that he had a weak grip on his most basic instinct such as those relating to scents, yet here he was, full hours before he would start feeling the effects of the moon, very subtly doing the human equivalent of sneaking his arm around Dave’s shoulder and act like it had always been there.

He hadn’t said it with words, and most definitely hadn’t expected Dave to pick up on it, but Klaus had pretty much just proved that he felt something for him. Something strong enough that compelled him to rub off the scent of another were on him and switch it with his own, as he probably thought was meant to be.

And now he was supposed to spend the night there, and act as if nothing had happened.

He was doomed.

* * *

The rest of the evening went surprisingly smoothly, as Dave settled himself on the couch to eat his dinner while the moon drove Klaus progressively more and more frantic. It was almost interesting to watch how the effects of it got worse and worse every minute, making Klaus go from his cheerful and carefree self to the pantomimic of a predator, pacing the flat with repetitive geometrical patterns and checking every window and door obsessively, but it was also heartbreaking. The were had reassured him several times that this was all normal, and nothing he wasn’t used to, but it was still harsh to see the man you loved be slowly driven to an animalistic haze.

“Alright, it’s either now or never,” Klaus informed him, forcing himself to stop fidgeting long enough to sit down on the couch and lift his sleeve up for Dave, “Unless you want to give the shot to the wolf, that is.”

Ignoring Klaus’s leg jumping up and down- he wasn’t one to find repetitive movements or sounds particularly annoying but Jesus, was it unnerving- Dave quickly set up the syringe and gave him the shot, dabbing the skin in disinfectant afterwards and smiling when Klaus promptly sneezed at the smell.

“All done,” he announced, mostly because Klaus still hadn’t moved. He was just sitting there, eyes closed in an effort to remain calm, and hadn’t taken his arm away from Dave yet. To be completely fair, he was actually _leaning_ into his touch. He would have found it almost endearing if he hadn’t been a minute or two away from turning into a literal wolf, “Up you go, Akela.”

Klaus did snap out of his odd trance then, sheepish, and bid Dave farewell. His retreat to his den was shaky and frantic just like the last time, and Dave was once again left with a gaping hole in his chest, wishing to be more of help to the were.

After a good fifteen minutes of self-deprecation, he finally started setting himself up for bed. There was no point in staying up any longer. After checking his emails, his social media, and losing half an hour or so on mind-numbing YouTube videos, he finally slithered under the covers, all clean and washed as usual. He still hadn’t understood why, exactly, Klaus insisted on making him sleep on a bed that didn’t smell like him if they spend so much time together- he already smelled like him enough as it was, what was the harm in sleeping in a bed that had his scent?- but he assumed that was just one other werewolf detail he was too human to get. Hopefully one day he would understand.

Thinking of werewolves made him inevitably end up thinking of Klaus, too, and he found himself grinning up at the ceiling like an idiot. There was a new movie he wanted to go and check out, he could offer the idea up to the were, maybe he’d like to come too. And if his brain secretly gleed at the possibility of it ending up being a date, well that was just between him and it.

Before he knew it, his eyelids were getting heavy, and his head was nodding to the side. Who knew staying in the same apartment as a werewolf could be so soporific. Just as he was about to fall asleep, there was a loud bang at the door, and he bolted upright, confused and startled. He had been so close to sleep that it took him a while to realize it hadn’t come from the front door, but rather from Klaus’s room, and when he did he sat up even straighter, concerned. He stayed still for a while, just listening and waiting, and when the bang sounded again he stood up, making his way to the door.

“Klaus?” he whispered, not knowing what to do. Part of him wanted to open the door to check on Klaus and make sure he was alright, but the bigger, frantic part of him screamed at him to back away from it _right now_. Klaus or not, there was still a predator in the flat with him, and although he was concerned for it he needed to beware of what it might do.

Even through the door, the wolf seemed to hear his whisper because it banged on the door again, making it rattle in its frame, scratching it with all of its force, and it seemed to be strong enough to be able to seriously damage it from the inside. Dave was about to step back again, rabbit brain terrified of what was happening, but something stopped him.

A low, sad whimper.

Klaus seemed to have somehow gotten his muzzle under the door, bypassing the insulating fabric there, and was now crying out with all of himself. It was a heartbreaking sound that made Dave step forward before he even realized he had moved. It was only when he got his hand on the door that he snapped out of it, and backed away again.

No.

Nope.

Nah-uh.

Hell no.

He could preach all day and night about how much he was in love with Klaus but there was _no way in hell_ he was going to open that door. It didn’t matter how sad and pathetic the wolf behind it sounded- wolf which, for the record, immediately started whining and scratching at the door again when it felt him move away- getting any closer to it would only end very badly.

For one thing, it would mean breaking Klaus’s trust. From day one Klaus had made it clear that he and the wolf were two separate entities, and that he hated his wolf with all of himself, so opening the door would mean violating Klaus’s trust in him, which he had no intention of doing.

Second of all, on the same vein of what Klaus had told him, he was in no way in control of his wolf, so much that he couldn’t remember anything that happened during the full moon from the moment he passed out to the second he woke up the next day. It wasn’t Klaus that was behind that door crying, it was a _werewolf_ , and he had no idea how it would react to his presence but he honestly didn’t particularity want to find out.

Thirdly-

The door shook violently, and Dave jumped away with a yelp. The wolf seemed to hear him because it ceased all movements and noises, not a crack or a whimper could be heard from inside the room, but that was enough to scare the shit out of Dave anyway. If it kept that up all night it was going to break down the door, sooner or later. Sure, there was a second door behind it, one made of metal that wasn’t as easy to budge, but it would still mean facing the wolf with nothing but a gate between them.

“Holy fuck,” Dave breathed out, hand on his chest. He had no idea what to do. There was no way he was going to sleep if the wolf kept that up all night, and he was also starting to get worried that maybe it was hurting itself in its antics. 

Was it whining because it was hurting? Was it biting at its paws in an effort to get back at Klaus again, for whatever reason? Was Klaus’s treatment going to go to waste after all?

The wolf whined again, this time almost desperate, and Dave opted for the worst idea possible: opening the door to check on it.

He hated the idea, he was terrified for his life, but if the wolf was causing itself any harm he needed to see it and try to stop it. It was idiotic and reckless but he just couldn’t stand the idea of Klaus ending up with bloodied arms and legs again. He wasn’t going to forgive himself if it could have been avoided.

Swiftly reaching for the key, he unlocked the door, then paused in anticipation. The wolf did not make a peep.

“Fuck it,” he whispered, then finally opened the door all the way, not giving himself time to hesitate any longer. Had he looked down at it he would have seen the scratch and bite marks craved into it and would have realized that it really would have not lasted throughout the whole night, but he was too busy looking into the room to pay any attention to it.

Behind the gated door, looking up at him, surprised, was… well. A wolf. He knew what werewolves were supposed to look like, but for some reason, his brain had never tried to connect that idea to Klaus, so he was slightly taken aback by how it looked.

It was _huge_. There was no other way to say it. Even from a few feet away he could see that it reached well over his waist, and its dark, ruffled fur did nothing to make it look any smaller. Its legs looked fine, there was no blood nor any sign of scratching- thank _fuck_ \- though its front legs were slightly longer than what would have been considered natural. There was just something about it that made him uneasy, as if it wasn’t supposed to look like _that_ , and he tried to brush the feeling off. It was to no avail because as soon as he moved his eyes to its face the feeling came back in full force.

Over its nose, and its mouth which thankfully wasn’t open and wasn’t displaying any ungodly amount of sharp teeth, were its eyes, and they took Dave completely by surprise. They were the same shade of green as Klaus’s, and they were exceptionally sharp. He didn’t feel like he was looking at a wolf, he felt like he was looking at something that shouldn’t have been there, and that was hedging on the side of _uncanny_ and _wrong_.

It was its eyes that made him step closer without realizing, looking for something in them. The wolf looked straight back at him, with absolutely no qualms and with the certainty and focus that he would have never expected from an animal. It made his skin crawl and his brain jump between curiosity and pure terror, “Klaus?”

The wolf moved then, recognizing his own name, and whined again. This time the sound wasn’t as desperate. It seemed relieved, as if he had been waiting all his life for someone to say that. He didn’t want to humanize the wolf, clinging desperately to what Klaus had told him about it, but… it seemed as though he knew exactly who he was and what he was. He knew where he was, who Dave was, and was desperately trying to communicate with him, and most likely had been trying for months now. That kind of self-awareness was in no way animalistic. It was fully human, and almost scarily so.

The wolf didn’t seem to care about his inner crisis because he started doing something odd with his front feet, tiptoeing on them as he pressed himself closer to the gate with a loud whine.

One side of Dave’s brain screamed what it hadn’t stopped screaming since he had bolted up in bed: _werewolf! That’s a fucking werewolf! Get out of there right now, that’s a fucking predator!_

The other side of Dave’s brain, the one that had been occupied with nothing but thoughts about Klaus for the past several weeks, calmly informed him that, _oh, that’s one happy boy._

Maybe it was wrong to judge him basing himself on canine behaviours but that looked like a wolf that was happy to see him. The way he was pressed against the metal bars, his whines, the way he had reacted to his name, everything about him screamed _happy_.

“Okay,” he spoke out, not sure whom to. The wolf perked his ears, and he seemed to decide he was speaking to him, “Okay, stay calm. I’m going to crouch now, okay?”

The wolf didn’t reply. He just looked back at him through the gate with those sharp eyes of his that made him feel so goddamn uneasy. He followed his movements with them, evidently enraptured with him- _you’re probably the first human he has ever seen in his life_ , one side of his brain informed him. _It’s already calculating which way would be the quickest to kill you_ , the other side snapped back- and when Dave was finally crouching down in front of him he turned. Now no longer pressed against the bars, he stuck his nose between two of them, breathing in quickly and loudly.

Something inside Dave informed him that he should probably offer his hand to the wolf. Let him smell it, realize he was friendly, all those rituals he usually engaged in with strange dogs on the street. Dave pointedly told that something inside of him to fuck right off.

“No offence, buddy,” he said, voice cracking with nervousness, trying with all his might to not end up crying with stress in front of the wolf. That would really be a punch to his masculinity, “But I still have some self-preservation left in me.”

The wolf did something odd, then. He seemed to sense that something was off- maybe he heard it in his voice, or maybe he could hear his heart hammer crazily in his chest- and he immediately backed away. His eyes were sympathetic, as if he had somehow realized that Dave was scared of him, and after making eye contact with him, checking that he had his attention, he laid down. He turned over on his back, so that his stomach was in the air, and bared his throat to Dave, whining loudly once more.

Dave’s mouth fell open at that, and his heart missed a beat in surprise. He didn’t need to be an expert in lycanthropology to know what that meant. The werewolf in front of him, probably the most dangerous predator he was ever going to come across, as well as the protagonist of countless horror stories and nightmares, had just _submitted_ _to him_. Without any sort of hesitation, he had laid himself down to show him that he was no threat to him and that he had no intention of hurting him in any way.

He was speechless.

Baring one’s throat like that wasn’t something that was done carelessly and without any sort of weight. It was a behaviour that was extremely meaningful and personal. He had never heard of anyone who had ever witnessed a werewolf show such trust in them, and for the wolf to do it so quickly at the first hint of Dave’s fear was completely unheard of. 

Was it possible that Klaus had misunderstood his own wolf for all that time? He saw no irrational monster there, but rather someone- and not some _thing_ \- extremely empathetic and smart. It was less of a beast and more of a creature with man-like intelligence trapped inside an animal’s body, fully aware of it but incapable of doing anything to communicate it to the outside world.

“Klaus?” Dave asked again, now more sure of himself. He got a happy whine as a reaction, as if telling him, _yeah, it’s me_ , “Holy shit.”

Klaus stood back up in a swift motion, sticking his nose again though the bars. He seemed to be aware that Dave had understood his message and was now looking back at him with pleading eyes, and Dave’s resolution crumbled. Klaus might not remember anything of the full moon, but that was no animal nor monster, and he wasn’t going to let him suffer all night alone.

Slowly, watching out for any sudden movement (the wolf had made it clear that he had nothing to fear, but he was still not an idiot), he lifted his hand until it was close to Klaus’s muzzle. The wolf sniffed him up, quite happily too, then nudged his palm with his wet nose, pressing himself more closely to the gate. He didn’t want to tear his skin apart, nor bite into his arm like the blood-thirsty monster he had been described to be until then. He wanted Dave to _pet him_.

“You are never going to hear the end of this, you know?” Dave chuckled, watching the wolf wag his tail happily as he stroked Klaus’s head from his cheek to his ear. When he got there he swiftly turned it inside out, an old habit he had picked up from his old family dog, and Klaus shook it off, “Just wait until you’re coherent again, I’m going to tease the hell out of you.”

The thought of what might come the next morning, of what Klaus might think of him after discovering what he had done, made his stomach clench uncomfortably. He would most definitely see it as him breaking his trust, betraying him to do something that he thought was right without his permission or consent.

He would probably hate him.

That alone made him retract his hand with a shudder, holding it closer to him as if he had just burned himself. He felt nauseous, and his head spun with the realization of what he had done. The wolf seemed to sense the shift in his mood because his tail stopped moving and he looked at him intensely, no doubt trying to understand what was the problem. When Dave stood up, shaken, he stood up too and stared at him, anxiously waiting for his next move. Dave didn’t dare look at him, but from the corner of one eye, he could see him stand there, nervous and expectant.

“I-“ god, this was _really bad_. He couldn’t even try to hide it from Klaus and pretend nothing had happened, he had his scent on him, and Klaus was smart, it wasn’t going to take him long to realize what had happened, and once he did it would be over for him. He would probably ask him to leave, and would never want to talk to him again. The idea of losing Klaus so soon, without even being able to confess what he felt for him, made him reach for the door, ready to close it in a haze- although he knew that wasn’t going to be enough to pretend it never happened- but before he could he was stopped once more.

The wolf, who in the meanwhile had been silently watching him work himself to an anxious mess, let out a terrifying screech. It was utterly heartbreaking, and for a second Dave thought something had hit him or hurt him, only to realize it had come from the fear of being locked again in the room, alone. The noise had surprised him to the point that he had jumped back a good couple of feet or so in shock, but that wasn’t enough to make Klaus stop. Looking no less than desperate, the wolf cried again, a high-pitched and pathetic sound that pulled at the strings of Dave’s soul. Apparently, closing the door again was out of the equation.

“What do you want me to do?” Dave implored the wolf, not entirely sure that he wasn’t going to reply to him. He looked distraught enough that he guessed he would probably go back to biting at his legs and paws as soon as he closed the door, and he had absolutely no idea what to do with himself, “Do you have any clue how much you’re going to hate me tomorrow for this? I’ll be lucky if you’ll even look at me.”

Klaus didn’t reply, though his eyes looked apologetic, almost as if he felt guilty for pretty much baiting Dave into all of this mess. They were probably even at this point: Dave had baited Klaus, making him unknowingly prove that he felt something for him, and now the wolf tricked Dave, forcing him to destroy whatever little thing they had between them in a matter of seconds. It was almost ironic.

He felt like crying, and as if he could sense his thoughts the wolf cried out with him, leaning further back to paw at the gate with a pleading whine. He didn’t know what had happened that night to make him realize the room wasn’t enough for him anymore, but apparently, the wolf had no intention to spend any more time in it than it was necessary.

A thought formed itself in Dave’s head. Klaus didn’t seem to have any intention of hurting him in any way. If he opened the gate, he would probably do nothing that could be considered aggressive or even concerning. And, really, he was already doomed. Klaus was going to hate him anyway. He might as well make this version of him happy one last time before Klaus kicked him out of his life for good.

Regardless of what was best for him, the wolf was obviously suffering, and he wasn’t going to stand there and let it happen any longer.

“You’re really lucky I love you,” Dave sighed, resignment setting itself in his chest like a heavy rock as he reached for the keys to unlock the gate. The wolf’s ears perked up and he tensed, much like a predator would before pouncing on its prey, “I doubt you could find anyone else up to do this.”

Once the gate swung open he stepped back, marvelling at how much of a moron he was, and how much he didn’t deserve nice things in his life. This was the first time he had felt something so strong for someone in a long while and here he was, throwing it all out because he couldn’t stand the thought of one wolf ruining all the hard work he had put into Klaus’s recovery. He was an utter idiot.

Klaus, for his part, stood there in the doorway, as tense as a violin string, looking at him like a deer in the headlights. If he planned on mauling him to death, that was the moment to do it. There was nothing left between them, and it would’ve taken him a couple of steps to reach him, jump up, and bite into his neck. That’s what he would be expected to do, anyway. He was a vicious monster who had ruined the body of his human counterpart simply because he had stumbled across a simple inconvenience that didn’t sit well with him. Anyone else would have run for the hills ages ago.

Instead of doing any of that, though, the wolf took a single tentative step out of the room with those too-long legs of his, surveying the place with a critical eye, nose twitching incessantly. Then, faster than anything Dave had ever seen, he was gone.

The flat was relatively small, but that didn’t stop Klaus from running laps around it, gracefully avoiding all furniture and obstacles, simply happy to let his legs stretch, jumping from the couch to the kitchen then running back to Dave and to the front door. His feet barely made any sound on the carpet, a texture that he seemed to prefer much greatly over the tiles of his den, and his movements were carefully chosen to avoid crashing into anything. The only thing he decided to mess with was Dave’s coat, which he gently grabbed with his front teeth and dragged to the couch to roll around over, no doubt trying to get any lingering scent of Hazel out of it, and it made him chuckle with humour.

The big, mean werewolf was having some midnight zoomies.

At the sound of Dave’s laugh, Klaus looked up, tongue sticking out of his mouth- a mouth full of shark-like rows of teeth that were no doubt going to fuel his nightmares for weeks- and jumped over the back to the couch to him. He leaned down on his front paws, looking up at him with mischief in his eyes, evidently ecstatic to be out, his posture a clear invitation to play with him. Though he wanted to, Dave was too exhausted and worried sick to even try. 

Before he could begin to try and explain it to the wolf, Klaus stood back up, concern evident in his eyes. Then, he circled Dave, a carefully calculated movement that made the hair on the back of his neck stand anxiously, and nudged him gently towards the couch. He had no idea wolves were capable of herding, yet there they were.

“What, do you want to get rid of me so that you can keep the party going?” Dave teased as Klaus pushed him until he was fully settled on the couch. The blankets were inviting, and the shock from all that had happened was wearing out and leaving some lingering tiredness in its wake, but he knew he wasn’t going to even try to sleep with a whole werewolf roaming the flat unsupervised, “Want to get your zoomies out before bed?”

To his great surprise, Klaus followed him on the couch. It was big enough to fit both of them easily, though his legs were dangling off of it, and he settled himself in the point where it turned into an L, snuggling up and letting his muzzle rest on his front paws, looking up at Dave expectantly. He didn’t even want to do much with his liberty and seemed happy enough to just exist with Dave next to him.

It took a while before the stress finally flowed out of his veins, and in the meantime, he set them both up. He laid a blanket over Klaus, his hands no longer shaking when touching him, and cuddled up close enough to be able to pet his head, running his fingers over his fur in what seemed to be relaxing patterns for both of them.

“God, I hope you’ll understand, tomorrow,” is what he whispered right before falling asleep. The wolf beside him had already closed his eyes, but his breathing hadn’t evened out. He was probably waiting for Dave to fall asleep first, the predator inside of him wanting to check that he was okay until the end, and the thought only made his heart clench harder, “Please don’t hate me, Klaus.”

* * *

When he woke up again, after a surprisingly deep sleep, the sun was starting to rise. Soft weak rays were filtering through the windows, and the city was just beginning to buzz with activity, but Dave ignored them both in favour of stretching under his covers, tired muscles twitching and shaking with the motion. He was still asleep enough he could have gone back under immediately, but then he heard it, whatever had woken him up.

On the other side of the couch, the wolf was whimpering quietly, shifting restlessly in his sleep under his own blanket. It seemed as though he had barely moved during the night, preferring to stay right there with Dave rather than roam the flat unsupervised, and Dave would have found it touching if he wasn’t busy worrying over him. Any sort of lingering sleepiness disappeared as his brain focused on the pained whines, amplifying the sound in his head. He lifted himself up on his elbows, ready to help the wolf in whatever way he could when he suddenly realized what was going on. He was turning.

Between a whine and a pained huff, he could clearly make out a sudden, snapping sound, reverberating in his ears, and the whines only got louder whenever one could be heard. He was, unfortunately, familiar with it, having tended to various patients with broken legs or dislocated shoulders in the past years: Klaus’s bones were being snapped back into place. He was enormously thankful for the blanket covering the wolf, preventing him from actually seeing his body rearrange itself into a human, but even the sound was bad enough that it was going to haunt him for ages, he was sure of it.

Although his skin crawled and his stomach was turning, Dave reached out a hand towards the wolf, offering him some semblance of support by gently resting it atop of his head as his whimpers intensified. Hopefully, through the haze of his turning, he would appreciate it. Then, under his eyes, the wolf morphed. In a smooth and fluid moment, his shoulders sagged, his limbs became longer, and his fur disappeared. Fair skin took its place, and before he knew it he was no longer petting fur, but rather human hair. The snapping and whimpers finally ceased, and Klaus was left there, shivering slightly under the blanket, thankfully asleep.

Something moved inside of Dave’s chest and he suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of protectiveness wash over him. Seeing Klaus so small and fragile, after witnessing so close what the full moon did to him and his body, he wanted nothing more than to curl himself around him to make sure he was alright, and that nothing else would hurt him ever again. He wanted to be there for him, and for all his future full moons, and take care of him before, during, and after every single one of them.

He wanted to tell him that he loved him and would never stop, if he allowed him to, but he knew that was not his decision to make. As far as he was aware, Klaus was going to hate the mere sight of him as soon as he woke up, and he might not get to do any of those things his heart craved so dearly.

With a shuddering sigh, he reached for Klaus’s blanker, pulling it more closely over his shoulders and tucking it in around him. The were made a little sound of appreciation at that, burying his nose into the couch, and Dave had to force himself to not do something dumb and sentimental like kissing his head.

Now, all he could do is wait, and see what Klaus was going to do once he was awake.


	9. Chapter 9

Another hour passed before Klaus finally woke up. It was as if his body was getting re-adjusted to being back in its human form, so for a while he just lied there, breathing heavily and being shaken by full-body shivers every once in a while. Dave stayed by his side for some time, watching over him like some kind of overly concerned guard dog, but when he started getting too restless he stood up, setting himself to work. He gave Klaus his final shot, which he seemed to barely register through the haze of sleep, and packed up his things, just in case he needed to make a quick retreat (he hoped he wouldn’t need to, but you never know). He pulled back the curtains from the windows, letting the soft morning light tentatively filter into the flat, he pulled out a pair of pants and a shirt for when Klaus finally did wake up, folding them up neatly beside him, and when there was nothing left to do he started making some breakfast, trying to find something to pass the time with before he let himself fall into a pit of anxiety and guilt.

It was while he was pouring out their tea that he heard noises coming from the living room. There was a quiet rustle, then what sounded like Klaus stretching on the couch, and a couple of joins popping. Then, there was a gasp, and the quietest, most tentative, “Dave?”

Taking in a shaky breath, Dave abandoned his task in the kitchen and made his way back into the living room. Klaus was still under the covers, looking down at himself, frozen, and when he heard him approach he looked up at him with panicked eyes. His skin was paler than usual, pure terror making its way through the haze of the full moon, and Dave knew what he was going to ask before he even opened his mouth, “What am I doing here?”

His voice was shaky, and his brain was no doubt rushing through all the scenarios that had led him there, outside of his den. His eyes ranked over Dave quickly and full with fear, probably checking that he was still in one piece but still refusing to let himself reach out to him. He looked so terrible that Dave went to open his mouth and explain that he didn’t do anything, it was all his fault, and he deserved to be hated for it, but before he could Klaus’s eyes moved to something behind him, slightly to his left, and he became even paler.

“Oh my god,” he chocked out, and Dave turned around to follow his gaze. The wooden door to his den was open, and now in the light, he could see that the wolf had been really close to just pushing it down with his sheer force. Scratch marks were etched all over it, and there was a visible hole carved into where the wolf had gotten enough leverage to try and dig into the wood. Apparently, Dave had made up his courage just in time, the door definitely would have not been able to last the whole night if the wolf had kept this up, but Klaus didn’t know that, and he was now fisting shaky hands into his hair, looking paler and paler each passing second, “Oh my god oh my god oh my god-”

“Klaus, no, it’s-“ Dave went to step closer to Klaus and touch him to reassure him, but he stopped himself, knowing that he wasn’t going to find the gesture any comforting once he figured out the truth. Klaus, on his part, seemed to interpret the aborted motion as Dave flinching away from him, and he only curled further into himself, muttering and whimpering as his panic built up, “Klaus, you didn’t break down the door, I-“ he took in a breath, savouring the last moment of Klaus not hating the mere sight of him, and felt his heart crack as he did, “I opened it.”

The were looked up at that, his panicked eyes zeroing in on him. For a second he stayed still, probably elaborating the implication of that sentence. Then, his expression clouded over, and Dave knew he was done for. The terror slowly vanished from his eyes and something else, something darker, took its place, “You what?”

His voice was still shaking, but for a completely different reason now. He was totally still, looking at Dave and waiting for an answer, and for the first time in the months he had known Klaus he truly felt like prey, “I- I opened the door and let you out,” he admitted, and he could pinpoint the exact moment when Klaus went from confusion to hatred. He was sure that expression was going to haunt him forever, “This is all my fault.”

For a second Klaus didn’t move, just looked at him in disbelief for a long, painful moment. Dave didn’t move either, something in his head told him that if he did he was going to set off the predator, and he just waited for any sort of cue or reaction from the were, unsure of what he should do. Then Klaus shook his head once, slowly, and a sour smile flickered over his face. It was an ugly smirk, something dark poisoned it, and it made Dave take a half step backwards before he even knew what he was doing.

“Klaus-“

"Thought it was a bit too good to be true..." the were seemed to mutter, chuckling humourlessly. He wasn't sure if he actually said that, he spoke it so quietly his brain had to fill in the gaps and maybe imagined it, but it didn't matter. Klaus turned his gaze towards him and it was painfully sharp. It was the kind of eyes he had expected to find on the wolf, not the human.

"I'm-" he went to say, but the werewolf held up his hand, immediately shutting him up. He took in a shaky breath, his shoulders heaving higher than they usually would, and he went to stand up, only to realise that he had no clothes on. He chuckled again that dark laugh he seemed to have woken up with when he saw the shirt and pants Dave had prepared for him, and a trembling hand reached for them. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but his fingers looked like claws for a second.

“I’m sorry, I really am,” Dave chocked out, adverting his gaze as Klaus hastily put on the clothes to look more presentable, which only made him feel even more guilty. Here he was messing Klaus’s life up in the moment when he was the most vulnerable, “I heard you scratching and I meant to check on you to make sure you weren’t hurting yourself again and then I just, I don’t know-“

“What? You just _what_ , Dave?” Klaus finally did snap then, pushing the blanket aside to stand up. His clothes are all askew and he was visibly trembling, looking like he was one step away from passing out. The adrenaline in his bloodstream must be fueling him forward, allowing him to stand up and face Dave, probably because his body had been programmed to face a potential threat after the full moon, and that thought alone made him feel sick to the stomach, “You decided to open the cage of a _werewolf_? Just how little self-preservation do you have in you to make you think that’s a good idea?”

“I know, I’m sorry, I just-“ again, something inside of Dave screamed at him to back away from Klaus, registering him as nothing more than an angry predator he needed to be wary of, and he stumbled over his words, trying to not be overwhelmed by his own instinct. Apparently, Klaus seemed to notice, because he stepped slightly closer to him, posturing in a way that could only be defined as aggressive, no doubt trying to use Dave’s prey brain against him, and he really couldn’t blame him after everything that had happened, “I meant to close the door again but then you cried out and you just- you looked _so_ sad, Klaus, I couldn’t-“

“I didn’t do anything of the sort, the wolf did,” the were was holding himself up by leaning against the couch, trying with all of his might to look as intimidating as possible, and Dave held himself back from reaching out to help him, knowing his touch wouldn’t be welcome, “I am _not_ the wolf, Dave. It’s just a wolf, and you don’t go and open wolves’ cages like that, or you end up dead and I’m stuck to deal with the guilt of it.”

His tone was firm, but it broke a little on the last few words. His meaning was unambiguous, and he didn’t need to explain himself any further, but he still did, breathing in shakily and wobbling on his feet, “I am _terrified_ of myself and what I could do, and I thought I could trust you with it,” if possible, his eyes hardened even more, and remorse and hurt filtered through them, “Obviously I was wrong.”

That was a punch to the gut more than any other. Klaus was still looking at him, the predator refusing to lower his gaze during a confrontation, and he would only describe his look as _heartbroken_. Dave had never felt so close to tears in his life, “Klaus, you would have never done anything to hurt me,” he choked out, tentatively, knowing that Klaus could kick him out at any second and this was the only chance he was going to get to try and mend what they had, “I am so sorry for what I did but I only did it because I didn’t see a wolf behind that cage, I just saw you,” he knew he was making very little sense and only proving how much of an idiot he was to Klaus, but he also didn’t think lying to try and justify himself would do any good- not that Klaus wouldn’t be able to spot out a lie anyway, “You looked _devastated_ in there, I simply couldn’t handle it.”

“I could have killed you,” Klaus stated, with no sort of inflexion or emotion behind the sentence. It was simply a matter of fact, and the only sign of any sort of feeling could be seen in his mouth. The full moon was still affecting him because he seemed to not have much control over himself: his teeth were poking out of his lips and it was the first time he could clearly see them so effortlessly. Klaus was pretty much snarling at him, and had every reason to, “This is not a matter of how the wolf looked or acted or sounded, this is a matter that it is a monster and I could have killed you in an instant.”

“But you didn’t,” Klaus looked absolutely murderous for a second and Dave hastily kept talking, “Listen, it might sound crazy but I don’t think your wolf has any interest in hurting me, I have this theory-“

“Oh, it all makes sense now,” the were now looked even angrier than before, if possible, but it was a quiet kind of angry. Before he had been snarling and snapping at him. Now he looked calm, composed. Like he was beyond anger and had settled into simply despising Dave in the span of a few seconds. It was terrifying, “He has a _theory_. Opening the cage of a vicious monster and breaking my trust at the same time is totally justified because it’s for a theory, silly me.”

“That’s not how it is and you know it,” Dave frowned. Klaus had every right to be mad at him and to keep on hating him even after he had attempted to explain himself, but that sort of bitterness was unusual of him. Deep down, he wondered if his reaction stemmed from something else, rather than the accident itself, but he immediately suppressed the thought. Now was not the time.

“Do I?” the were wobbled on his feet, grabbing the couch tighter, and made a short but sure snarl when Dave reached out on instinct to steady him. Dave stepped back with his hands raised, not even allowing himself the privilege of being hurt by that reaction, “All I see now is you deciding to play around with a werewolf for no apparent reason, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to know. Was it for one of your theories? Or was it just for your entertainment?”

“Klaus, please,” Dave begged, desperate. He could stand a Klaus hating him for something that he did, he had been an idiot and he deserved it, but a Klaus despising him and snarling at him for something he was assuming he did? He would fight teeth and nails before he allowed Klaus to think he never saw him as anything more than entertainment, “I would never even think such a thing. I did what I did not for myself, but purely because I saw you in the wolf.”

“But _why_?” he couldn’t tell if Klaus really couldn’t understand the point or if he just wanted to torture him a bit as a punishment, but a headache was starting to build up behind his eyes, “If it’s not for your entertainment or for some sick twisted scientific reason of yours what’s the point of going out of your way to make this whole mess? Why would you do that?”

“Because I love you!” he hadn’t meant to say it out loud, though the concept had been jumping around his head and his ribcage since the conversation had started, and he now felt breathless. Klaus seemed breathless too, just standing there, frozen, and looking at him with wide eyes. He had royally fucked up, and didn’t seem to be able to stop, “I love you and I didn’t want anything else to happen to you, so I opened the door and then you looked so fucking miserable I couldn’t stand the thought of you staying there all night alone and I just, I don’t know, I caved in. I’m sorry Klaus but please, you have to understand I never did any of this for my own entertainment.”

Klaus didn’t reply for a while and just looked at him, completely dumbfounded. He had never imagined his confession going like this, yet here they were. Him practically screaming his love for Klaus. The were looking like he was on the verge of death and hating him. Then, as if he wasn’t already heartbroken enough as it was, Klaus _scoffed_ , and shook his head as if wanting to clear it up, “No, you don’t.”

What the _fuck_.

“You don’t, and you can’t,” his voice was oddly monotone, and after a couple of seconds, he realized it was because he was _repeating something_. He had either had someone say it to him, or he said it to someone else, or he simply already planned the conversation ahead, the point was that he was saying something he had learned by heart and Dave couldn’t decide which option was worse, “At the risk of being redundant I’d like to remind you that I am a werewolf, and you are not. We are simply incompatible, and whatever you’re feeling can’t possibly be love-“

“What kind of imposter syndrome bullshit are you on?” it was Dave’s turn to snap now, and he didn’t care that Klaus wasn’t done speaking. He didn’t want to hear the rest of his little speech either. He could hate him all he wanted, but saying that he was mistaken and that his love was worth nothing? He would give him a piece of his mind before he allowed him to say that again, “Incompatible? What decade are you from?”

“Don’t push it, Dave,” Klaus seemed exceptionally tired now, and he guessed he had the right to. From his point of view, he had gone to sleep and woken up to Dave having done god knew what with his wolf during the night and now confessing his love for him. It was a mess, “I don’t expect you to understand, it’s simply a matter of fact. It wouldn’t work.”

“Easy to say that when you wouldn’t even try,” Dave shot back, and while desperately trying to keep his focus on the discussion at hand, his brain couldn’t not point out that in all of this mess, Klaus hadn’t said that his feelings weren’t returned.

“Dave, you’re afraid of me,” now Klaus didn’t seem angry anymore. His expression was much more relaxed. He seemed resigned. Disappointed, even. Dave hated to disappoint, but he also couldn’t deny it. Werewolves could literally smell emotions on humans. It’s how wolves hunted. Anything that Klaus did that Dave found inhuman or vaguely disconcerting, Klaus had always gotten it back as fear, and hadn’t said anything about it until then.

“I’m not,” he replied, trying to show his firmness even with his body language, just in case Klaus took notice of it, “I’d never be afraid of you.”

“I can smell fear, you’re lying,” Klaus pointed out, looking downright sad, almost as sad as he had been behind the gates the night before, “Hell, I can even smell that you’re lying, why would you do this?”

“It’s just instinct, it’s easily twisted. I swear I have never been actively scared of you in my life,” he took one step forward as if trying to prove his point. Klaus just watched him closely, pale as a sheet, “I would never find you, either of you, in any way scary. I lo-“

Before he could finish his sentence and his desperate plea, Klaus snapped. Faster than he would have expected from someone so weak and pale, he grabbed the front of his shirt, and with a quick stride he pinned him to the wall. He didn’t slam him into it per se, probably too exhausted to attempt it, but it was still done with enough force to knock the air out of him. 

Once he got his bearings, and his body registered Klaus pressed against his chest, his instinct took over, and pure panic filled his veins. Klaus’s sharp teeth were deliberately bared for the first time ever, just a few inches away from his face, and his chest was rumbling with low, animalistic growls that made his hair stand up. That wasn’t just Klaus holding him still, it was a predator, bypassing every inch of rational thought to shake his prey brain to the core. All Dave could see were teeth and all he could hear were growls, and he went in full fight or flight mode before he was even aware of what was happening.

Then, before he could do anything stupid like run out of the apartment screaming, the more rational part of his brain caught up with what was happening and realized what Klaus was doing. The were was purposefully trying to scare him off, acting as aggressive and inhuman as possible in an effort to prove Dave wrong, to show that he was afraid of him after all and that everything Dave had said until then had no base whatsoever, including his love for him.

The bastard.

Unfortunately for Klaus, though, Dave wasn’t just made out of instinct. Over the jittery rabbit in his head that cowered in one corner and was begging him to do something about Klaus’s hands fisted firmly in his shirt, the doctor in him pulled himself together, knowing exactly what to do. Imitating a behaviour he had witnessed countless times between werewolves, he looked away from Klaus, firmly staring at the floor, and even bared his throat to him for good measure. Klaus’s growls faltered at that, a clear sign that his plan was working, but before he allowed himself to glee he let out the most high-pitched whine he could manage. He had no frame of reference for it, really, as he had only heard the wolf make the same noise, as well as house dogs, but he still hoped he looked pitiful enough to a werewolf.

Apparently, he did, because all of a sudden Klaus wasn’t touching him anymore, and was actually standing a good few feet away, hands held in front of his chest like a confused squirrel, a look of pure shock on his face. His growls stopped, too, and he looked at a total loss of what he should be doing. Dave smirked.

“Now that you’re done with your little show, can we talk?” he asked, abandoning the submissive pose he had opted for like it was nothing, and that seemed to snap Klaus out of it too. The were visibly relaxed, though now he was shivering more violently, no doubt exhausted with the effort of holding Dave against the wall, and he had the decency to look guilty.

“I-“ he was avoiding Dave’s gaze now, visibly sheepish to have been caught trying to scare him off and having been dealt with so easily, and wobbled on his feet once more. This time, when Dave reached out to steady him, he didn’t flinch away, and rather welcomed his touch, leaning his weight on him, “I’m sorry for doubting you. That was a dick move.”

Dave shrugged good-naturedly, not letting himself pull Klaus closer like he wanted to. They still had a lot to clear up, “It was, but it wasn’t unjustified,” he searched his gaze then, needing to get the point across, and when he finally caught it he held it, “I know this isn’t the most ideal situation, but I meant what I said.”

For a moment they just looked at each other, both of them quiet. He didn’t expect Klaus to forgive him for breaking his trust, but apparently, something about Dave proving that he wasn’t afraid of him seemed to put the were’s heart at peace, “Can we talk after I’ve slept a bit?” he wobbled on his feet, proving his point, and didn’t flinch when Dave unconsciously tightened his hold on him, “That really took a lot out of me.”

“Of course,” he was lucky enough that Klaus even wanted to talk to him, so he wasn’t going to push his luck. Not that he would have denied him the sleep either way, the guy looked one step away from falling into a coma. He helped him over to the couch, arranging all the blankets and pillows in what he had learned was comforting for him, and once he was done he hovered there, anxious, “Do you want me to leave?”

“No,” Klaus replied immediately, overlapping his answer to his question. His eyes were slowly slipping closed with exhaustion, but he made the effort to look up at him, “I don’t hate you, Dave, I just… need to figure this out with a clearer mind, and,” this time he did look away, and a bit of colour returned to his cheeks, “And I prefer to do that with you here.”

Dave held back a smile, preferring to just tuck Klaus back in the nest of blankets and pillows he had made for him. He didn’t say it, but he would wait for him for however long he needed if it meant it would salvage their relationship. And maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t alone in feeling what he felt.

* * *

It was another couple of hours before Klaus woke up again. He hadn’t had any time to recover from the full moon, with everything that had happened between them, and the stress from their confrontation seemed to have been so much for him that he fell into a deep sleep, barely reacting to Dave’s presence at his side. He stayed in the same position the entire time, snuggled under the covers and nuzzled into a ridiculous amount of pillows, and Dave found himself gazing at him from time to time. He knew he should have done something productive with his morning, maybe also drinking the tea he had made on autopilot for the two of them, but once again he found himself incapable of doing anything. He was going to wait until Klaus woke up and they talked, and only then he was going to be sure he could eat breakfast without throwing everything back up.

With that being said, he did try to pass the time in some way that wasn’t creepily staring at Klaus until he woke up like some sort of stalker. He mostly busied himself with his phone, not feeling comfortable enough to go around Klaus’s flat to look for an alternative, answering the few texts he had gotten during the night (one from his mother, informing him that Scrubs was on tv, and a single winking emoticon from Hazel which he pointedly ignored), and filling out useless quizzes he found online that were designed to make the hours tick by without him acknowledging them.

He had just found out his personality type was INFJ, apparently, and was busy with some dumb BuzzFeed quiz when Klaus finally started waking up. He was so captured by the quiz that he didn’t notice him, and startled a bit when he finally spoke up, in a raspy voice, “What are you doing?”

Dave looked up from his sprawled position on the couch, close enough to Klaus to be able to see the bluish of his veins under his eyes, and he sat up straighter, “I’m, uh, trying to find out which kind of onion I am.”

Klaus’s face contorted into a mix of a frown and a grin, both amusement and confusion dancing in his eyes. He tried to pull himself up on his elbows, then groaned when they immediately gave out under him, “And which is it?”

“I don’t know, I still have the last question left,” he tentatively turned the phone towards Klaus, nervous, not knowing whether he would push his attempt at casualness away or follow along. Klaus just squinted at the phone, trying to make out what it said with straining eyes, “What would you say is my style?”

Klaus looked at the phone, then looked at him, up and down. Dave pretended his look had no effect on him, and that his heart wasn't suddenly beating faster by its own accord. He knew Klaus had heard it when the were just smirked at him, evidently amused, “I’d say you’re cute and adorable.”

“Mhmm,” Dave hummed, not trusting his voice yet. One compliment- that wasn’t even a compliment!- from Klaus and here he was stuttering like a middle school girl. His ancestors must be really proud of him, “Vidalia.”

“Nice,” Klaus tried to pull himself up again and failed once more. Dave went to reach out to help him but he murmured something about it being a fight between him and gravity and no one else. He hoped it was true and that that was the only reason why he didn’t want Dave to touch him, “I like it when you do that.”

He finally pulled a pillow under his chin and looked up at Dave from there, more adorable than he had any right to be. Dave fiddled with his phone, not really knowing what to do with the intensity of his gaze, “Do online quizzes?”

“Be comfortable around me,” Klaus corrected him, something that could only be defined as raw dancing in his eyes. He had never addressed Dave’s behaviour around him like this, so openly and without fear, and it was quite sudden for him, “Just, sit there and let your guard down while a werewolf is sleeping next to you.”

“You’re hardly just any werewolf, you’re you,” he pointed out. Klaus was still looking at him with that intense gaze of his and he forced himself to maintain eye contact, “I saw you cry when you saw ducklings in the park, forgive me for not being terrified of you.”

“You’ve mentioned,” Klaus didn’t elaborate any further on the topic, but he imagined it must be a big deal for him, and for his wolf in particular. Having someone who was inherently a prey be so comfortable around a werewolf was probably a huge display of trust on Dave’s part, and he hadn’t really thought it out. The werewolf just happened to be Klaus, the man he loved, and that was enough for him.

They both stayed quiet for a while, Klaus taking a breath between a sentence and another, Dave fidgeting in await of his doom. That might sound dramatic, but he really didn’t know what to make out of Klaus’s attitude now that he was awake, and had no idea if he was forgiven or not. Thankfully, the were decided to answer his doubts for him, sighing shakily, “You said the wolf wasn’t aggressive towards you?”

He breathed out, avoiding Klaus’s gaze like a guilty child, “It wasn’t, yo- it looked happy to see me, actually.”

The were looked at him dumbfounded for a moment, “ _Happy_?” he said in a high pitched voice, as though the mere thought of it was simply unbelievable.

Dave nodded,” You, er…” he scratched the back of his neck, not knowing whether that information would make his situation any better, “You wagged your tail at me. Repeatedly.”

Klaus was quiet for another long moment, and when he spoke again he could see his cheeks had tinged pink, “Right,” he was the one to look away then, oddly flustered, and Dave thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen, “That’s… unexpected.”

“You’re telling me?” Dave blurted out before he could stop himself. He quieted down immediately, unsure if his friendliness was welcome, and Klaus frowned at his sudden change of emotions, “I opened the door to check that the wolf wasn’t hurting you again and it looked like it had been waiting all its life to see me.”

The were frowned once more. It was an odd frown, one he didn’t know what to attribute it to, “You said you had a theory for it.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a firm invitation, almost a demand, to know the truth. Dave took a deep breath, keeping himself from warning Klaus that he might not like what he had to say, knowing well that his answer could quickly turn into a pointed jab at everything Dave had done so far that Klaus hadn’t liked one bit, “It’s Hazel’s theory,” he started, and Klaus pretty much scowled at that. He wondered if that was an unconscious reaction, and if it was his wolf shining through once more, “He- we think that your wolf took a liking to me, the first time we met. And that it started attacking you to communicate it to you.”

He didn’t need to explain any further like Hazel had done with him, Klaus’s eyes immediately lit up with understanding, and he knew he had already figured it all out, why his wounds had completely disappeared once he and Dave had started going out together and why his wolf had reacted so well to Dave. Then, his eyes darkened suddenly, “Did you do all of this mess purely to prove your theory?”

“No, I-“ Dave went to choke out, then he paused, gathering himself together. He had been emotional enough for the day, and Klaus deserved a proper explanation, “I let the wolf out because it looked desperate in there and it looked too much like you. I actually already proved my theory last night…”

Klaus frowned once again. It seemed like it was his default face that morning. Dave ended up having to help him make two plus two, pointing meaningfully at his own neck, and Klaus let out an audible ‘ah’ before he hid his face in his pillow, ashamed. Even from there, Dave could hear him mutter, “You’re an asshole.”

“To be fair, Hazel did say you probably weren’t going to like it.”

“Ah, it was Hazel’s idea too? Marvelous,” Klaus lifted himself up from his prone position in an extraordinary display of strength, for someone who had just spent the night as a different species. He crawled over to Dave, shaky and unstable on his limbs, and once he was there he sat up enough to be eye to eye with him. Dave did everything in his power to not look away, “So you’re saying that you let out a dangerous predator, going against my trust, mind you, purely because… it looked sad?”

Dave flinched, and couldn’t help looking away then, focusing on a spot on Klaus’s pants. Klaus snapped his fingers in his line of sight, driving his gaze back towards him, “If you say it like that it sounds ridiculous, I know, but it just… I don’t know, pulled something in me,” he put a hand to his heart, trying to mimic the feeling of seeing Klaus so distraught, trapped into a different body, had given him, “You looked like you were in pain, and at the idea that you would hurt yourself again... I couldn’t think anymore.”

Klaus had an unreadable look in his eyes, then, and Dave couldn’t pinpoint what he was thinking until he spoke again, more softly than before, “You knew there was a chance I would hate you and you still did it? To stop the pain?”

Dave swallowed, hard. He could feel tears pricking at the back of his eyes and he fought them back, “Yes.”

“Because you love me.”

Hearing Klaus say his own words back to him was enough to kick the wind out of him. He simply nodded, not trusting his voice to speak just yet. Klaus breathed out then, and moved. Leaning on the back of the couch, he knelt until he was taller than Dave and reached his hands out for him. He put them on either side of his neck, right over his arteries, and he momentarily forgot how to breathe.

“Klaus, are you-“ he fisted his hands on either side of him on the couch, keeping as still as possible under his intense gaze. Klaus’s hands were slightly clammy and cold at the same time, and he knew he could feel every jump of his heart, “Can you- do you hate me?”

“I think what you did was moronic,” Klaus told him without hesitation. He was looking a little to the left of his eye, where he knew he had a freckle, and felt oddly touched that the were had noticed it enough to look for it once that he was this close, “And that we should have talked before you did any of it, but I also understand why you did it,” he looked back into his eyes, and the intensity of the moment was almost enough to make him pass out, “Because I love you too.”

Dave breathed out hard enough to jostle Klaus. The rush from the confession and the relief left him dizzy for a moment, so much that he found himself saying before he could stop it, “That’s- that’s great.”

Klaus smiled, amused. His thumbs pressed under Dave’s jaw, angling his chin so that he could look at him better, and Dave didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened when his lips parted involuntarily, “I’m going to kiss you now.”

Idiot that he was, Dave breathed out a soft, “Thank you,” before Klaus leaned down to cover his lips with his, and he forgot all sort of thoughts from then on.

For a moment he stayed completely still, his brain still processing what was happening and having a hard time figuring out why it was happening, but once Klaus moved his thumb over his jaw, caressing the skin there ever so gently, he snapped out of his trance. He immediately reached out for him, letting him lean his weight on him, and he heard Klaus breath out in relief, shaky muscles finally having the chance to unclench.

They were both hesitant, too raw and tired from what had happened to be anything other than gentle, but Dave still jumped when he felt Klaus’s teeth. He had been expecting them, of course- when he said he had been thinking about him for months on end he wasn’t saying it for the jest of it- but his confused brain was still somehow surprised by their presence.

“Sorry,” Klaus immediately pulled back, comically covering his mouth, as if he too was surprised by the presence of his own teeth. Dave had a feeling that if he hadn’t been holding him up close to his chest he would have already been on the other side of the flat by then, “I shouldn’t, I’m sorry that was-“

“No, no, _I_ am sorry,” Dave rushed to apologize. He was lucky enough to have the man of his dreams confess his love for him and kiss him, he wasn’t going to let it be ruined like this, “I had just forgotten you had teeth.”

While Klaus was busy spluttering about the absurdity of that statement (“You forgot I had teeth? As in, all of them?”) Dave took the chance to lean up and make a point of kissing that one spot of his lips where he could see the canines tucked away. It was a soft little peck, gentle as a feather, but it still did its job of shutting Klaus up. When he leaned down again to kiss him he was less hesitant and tentative, now more deliberately pushing into Dave, and Dave happily welcomed him back, letting himself fall further into the couch cushion and running a hand over Klaus’s trembling back.

The rush of adrenaline from the whole situation finally seemed to boil down, leaving him tired and light-headed, and he pulled back enough to lean his head against Klaus’s. The were breathed deeply against him, smiling like the happiest person in the world, and when Dave realized he was actually breathing in his scent he blushed, “Just so we’re clear… we’re good?”

Klaus blinked, falling back on the couch so that he was no longer kneeling over Dave. He made a point not to move away, keeping Dave’s hands on him with a gentle touch, “You could say that,” and as if to prove a point, he took one of Dave’s hands, kissing the back of it and earning himself a surprised squeak from him, “I’m sorry for overreacting, I-“

“Klaus, you are in no way at fault here,” Dave went to reassure him, squeezing him with the hand he had just kissed. He wanted to pull him closer to him, to feel his body against his and be soothed by it, but his still twitching nose stopped him, knowing he was probably overwhelmed with stimuli and the scent of him, being already so close, “Although… what happened to us being incompatible?”

Klaus groaned loudly, canines making a quick appearance along with his grimace. He let his head fall forward until it hit Dave’s chest with s soft thud, and Dave tried to not act like that simple touch had given him the equivalent of an electric shock, “Please, let’s both pretend it never happened,” he started scooting forward, not moving his head, so that he could get closer to Dave without actually interrupting the contact they had, “It’s what I’ve been telling myself since I realized I loved you, I hoped that saying it aloud it would make sense…”

Something pulled at Dave’s heart, an odd and yet familiar pain. He ran a hand through Klaus’s hair, watching the strands stick out in that facsimile of a bird's nest it liked to resemble so much, “I don’t know who or what made you think you’re in any way unlovable, but be sure I’ll love you until you forget it,” he ran his index over Klaus’s spine sticking out on the back of his neck and marvelled at the goosebumps that it left in its wake, “I want to take care of you.”

The were snorted- not unkindly, simply disbelieving. He leaned back so that he could look Dave in the eye again, and his gaze was tired, almost sad. It was the gaze of someone who had already considered and reconsidered the subject, and never gotten to a conclusion that included a happy ending for him, “It’s rotten work.”

“Not to me, not if it’s you.”

Klaus’s gaze was unreadable for a second, too many emotions dancing within it and never settling on one. He didn’t reply to Dave, probably too overwhelmed by the implications of that sentence, and was actually just sitting there admiring him when Dave tilted his head to the side, patting his own shoulder in invitation. That seemed to get a reaction out of him because the were laughed, “You truly are something, you know?”

“And yet you love me,” he marveled at his own words. _Klaus loved him_. Just the night before he had been sure he was never going to be able to see the were again and yet here he still was, sitting there with him, kissing him, and somehow forgiving him, “Blame your wolf for your bad taste.”

Klaus crinkled his nose, saying something under his breath that he didn’t catch. He carefully sat down next to Dave, curled up against his side, and only after Dave encouraged him did he lay his head on his shoulder. Everything about his movements seemed calculated and tentative, as if he expected Dave to flip out at any second, but once he was settled he finally relaxed, a soft sigh escaping him. 

A warm, comforting embrace slowly wrapped itself around Dave’s heart, making him almost choke on his own emotions, “Do you want anything to eat? You still have the food I got you last night.”

Klaus snuggled closer to him, nose not afraid to brush against Dave’s collarbone. His hand sneaked over Dave’s arm until he could lace their fingers together, amplifying the feeling of fuzziness currently makings its residence inside his chest, “I’d rather sit here with you, for a while… If that’s okay with you…”

Dave nodded, then kissed Klaus’s head for good measure. He thought he probably ought to thank Hazel, since without him and his help he never would have figured any of this out, but for the moment he busied himself slowly stroking Klaus’s hand with his thumb. The were only snuggled closer, leaving a quick feather-like kiss on his collarbone. He could get used to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not a fan of quoting other works in your own writing but you’ll have to pry Euripides out of my cold, dead hands, I live for this type of pining it’s just *chef’s kiss*
> 
> Anyway, lads, this is it! We still have one chapter left as an epilogue but this is pretty much the end :’) please do let me know how you feel, as I am particularly raw today (blame it on a compulsive tattoo I got and on tma season 4) and will probably weep with joy at any sort of feedback
> 
> Love y’all please remember to wear a mask outside x


	10. Epilogue

Dave didn’t know who, exactly, was looking over him but somehow, certainly with no little amount of divine intervention, everything fell right into place. One second he was worried sick over whether or not Klaus hated him, and beating himself up for royally fucking up the one good thing that had happened to him in his entire life, probably, and the next second Klaus was forgiving him, kissing him, telling him that he loved him, and it felt so overwhelmingly _right_ that he didn’t even allow himself to wonder if he was dreaming, or if he had banged his head at some point and was hallucinating it all.

Klaus seemed to share the same feeling, if the way he looked at him for the following weeks was anything to go by, openly gazing at him, and refusing to lower his gaze whenever he was caught, with the same expression of someone who was looking at a particularly beautiful sunset, and it always, without fail, made Dave blush under his intense eyes. He had reacted surprisingly well to Dave’s fuck-up of the century, once he had gotten over the initial horror of it, and though for the following couple of moons he kept a closer eye on him, as though scared that he would find a brand new way to mess their relationship up once again, Dave honestly could not have been happier. He didn’t allow himself to feel hurt by Klaus’s little displays of mistrust those first couples of months, knowing full well that he had earned it, and he just sat back, letting it do its course and doing his best to show Klaus that he was there for him, in whichever way he wanted him.

It didn’t feel like a jump in the unknown, not exactly, as they had spent so much time together it just felt like a reasonable progression of their relationship, but it rather felt like a conscious choice. He chose Klaus over everyone else, and surprisingly enough, Klaus had chosen him, and he hadn’t stopped since.

He already knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Klaus, but the realization took a firm, unmovable seat in his mind the first time Klaus came over to stay the night at his apartment. His flat was bigger than Klaus’s, in a more quiet zone of the city that had the were make his presence known to whoever’s territory it fell under- again, something Dave still didn’t fully understand even after all those years-, and it even had a little studio room which he had already thought to turn into a den for the full moon in case Klaus decided to move there, but it seemed as though it was his bed that marvelled the were the most.

After roaming the flat with interested eyes and ever-twitching nose, Klaus finally walked into the bedroom, and promptly stopped, looking like a little kid on Christmas morning, “Oh, man, I haven’t slept in a proper bed in _years_.”

The sentence was spoken lightly and was probably meant as a joke, but it still opened a gaping hole in Dave’s chest. Without letting Klaus elaborate any further, he walked up to the bed, laying down on it with a satisfied huff, looking at the now bewildered werewolf. He patted the other side of the bed in an invitation, trying to get him to lay on it too, just to see his reaction, and he didn’t need to do it twice. 

Moving like a cat, with slow measured movements, Klaus got on the bed beside him, tentatively, as if he expected it to give under him at any moment, and when he seemed to realize that absolutely nothing was going to happen he laid down properly, groaning. He stretched, and Dave even heard a couple of bones popping, then curled in on himself again, shamelessly pulling a pillow along with him. He couldn’t help but chuckle, loving the sight and loving him, “Comfortable?”

Klaus looked up at him, in a way that could only be described as _elated_. He figured that was what a man who had slept on a couch for the best part of his life would look like when finally allowed on a proper bed, “It smells like you.”

He didn’t elaborate any further, preferring to hide his smile in the pillow as he stretched again, and Dave couldn’t do anything other than matching his smile. That had been one of the major consequences of them realizing that they loved each other and that they both planned on spending the foreseeable future with the other. Bit by bit, piece by piece, Klaus had started dismantling the walls he so firmly held between himself and Dave when it came to his inhuman traits. He could tell it was a conscious effort, as sometimes Klaus had to physically allow himself to relax around Dave, too used to hiding away his wolf, but it was starting to come out. He would relax his mouth more often, letting his canines poke out without fear, even when they kissed- which always pulled an embarrassingly high pitched moan out of Dave that Klaus amusedly presented to not hear. He would stop trying to mimic what Dave did whenever it was dark outside, dropping the human facade to let his natural ability to see in the dark shine through. And he would reference even those little things Dave had no way of understanding, like scents. It wasn’t the first time he had mentioned he liked his scent, but it didn’t mean he still wasn’t flustered by it.

Feeling a familiar warmth settle in his chest, knowing that Klaus trusted him enough to allow himself to act natural around him, Dave said the only thing he knew would make him go crazy, “Can’t wait for it to smell like you, too.”

“Oh my _god_ ,” Klaus laughed, hiding his unusually flushed face in his hands, and Dave knew he had hit jackpot. It wasn’t hard to figure out what little things he could do or say to make Klaus literally swoon, but it certainly was entertaining, “You can’t just _say_ that!”

“I can, and I did,” he informed him, before pulling the pillow away from his grasp long enough to kiss him.

It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for Dave, and he actually found it quite comforting. He had fallen in love with all those little quirks and perks that made Klaus, well, Klaus, and being allowed to see more of them felt like a privilege to him. It was a constant state of learning for him, seeing new parts of his boyfriend (and here he had to swoon, still not used to saying or even thinking it) every day, but there were specific times and circumstances when they shone through more particularly than ever.

An example of that seemed to be the early morning of the next day, right after waking up from the first time he ever slept over at Dave’s place. Dave woke up naturally, to the sound of the birds chirping outside rather than his alarm blasting at an ungodly hour to wake him up for work, and through the haze of sleepiness, he immediately noticed that Klaus was already awake, and was looking at him.

He had to blink a couple of times and rub his eyes before he managed to focus on him, but when he did he realized that he looked particularly thoughtful. He was leaning on his arm, turned on his side towards him, and was zoning out on a point above his shoulder rather than looking directly at him, “You okay?”

His raspy voice seemed to jostle him out of his trance because Klaus blinked, and looked up at him. His eyes visibly softened and he attempted a smile, though it was weak, “Sorry,” his voice was raspy too, and it only made some dumb part of Dave’s brain sing-song, _domesticity! You’re being domestic! You’re boyfriends, and you’re being domestic!_ , because he wasn’t already enough of a walking stereotype as it was, “I was just, thinking… that I never really experienced this…”

He made a hand motion between him and Dave, and looked expectantly at him, hoping Dave would get it. He didn’t, and instead of voicing his confusion he just tilted his head to the side further into the pillow, which only made Klaus’s breath hitch. He hadn’t realized how he would look, supine and neck bared, but he guessed it was an extreme show of vulnerability on his part, which was only fitting, “I mean I never really… I mostly had one night stands, and… the longest relationship I had lasted two weeks, and even then he wouldn’t, we wouldn’t-“

He made the hand motion again, looking more desperate, pointing at Dave, still laying down and looking at him, at himself, half sitting up, and the blankets they were tangled into, and it clicked in Dave’s brain, “Oh.”

They never really talked about their past relationships. Didn’t see a point in it, really, but from what he had gathered from the little things Klaus had said, and the many things he had shown without speaking, he guessed none of his past hookups had been particularly accepting of his lycanthropy. He could almost imagine them, some faceless person, refusing to share a bed with Klaus in fear of getting his scent on them. It wasn’t a secret that Klaus was an extremely touchy person, it was written in everything he did, and to deny him that kind of connection… 

Klaus nodded, looking down, “It’s not just this kind of affection that was lacking. Some of them- some of them wouldn’t even let me _touch_ them,” now that he had gotten part of it out he seemed more comfortable, speaking more clearly, and Dave’s blood boiled in his veins at the thought of these faceless people making Klaus think he wasn’t enough, or that something was wrong with him.

It was then that he looked down, following Klaus’s line of sight, and realized that he was fisting the sheets nervously, just an inch shy of touching his side. His hand moved on instinct, propelled forward by something raw and desperate in him that was calling out to Klaus, and before he knew it he had gently grasped Klaus’s wrist, lifting it up. The were looked at him surprised, and he tried to give him the most reassuring smile he could manage.

“You can touch me,” he murmured, guiding Klaus’s hand until it could land on his abdomen, under his shirt. The were breathed out loudly, closing his eyes as if that one contact alone was too much for him, and ever so shyly his thumb started caressing his skin there, “You are more than welcome to.”

Klaus chuckled, blinking his eyes open, and looked at Dave like he held the sun, and for a second he felt like he did, “That was mostly just to say that-“ he thumbed one of Dave’s ribs, which made him shiver in surprise, and promptly stumbled over his words, like they were two shy teenagers and not two whole grown adults, “That I’m not used to any of this.”

As if to show what he meant he leaned closer to Dave until he could leave a feather-light kiss on his jaw, a couple of inches shy of touching his mouth, and it was Dave’s turn to breathe out shakily. The were seemed to notice because he smiled against his skin, his thumb still caressing his stomach in slow, tentative motions, “You might have to go slow with me.”

He leaned back again, now looking almost timid, and Dave realized he was waiting for his reaction. That was probably the most effort Klaus had ever put into opening himself emotionally to him, or to anyone, as far as he had gathered, and he wanted to let him know exactly how much he loved him and was honoured to be trusted like this. As things were, he couldn’t find the words to, so he decided to show him. Helping himself up with his elbow, he lifted up until he could reach Klaus, and kissed him softly on the lips. It was quick and sweet, but it still made both of them blush, “Lucky for you, I am a very patient person.”

Klaus didn’t reply to that. He just looked at him, for a long moment, something intense dancing in his eyes, and he smiled. His hand started moving slowly under Dave’s shirt, prompted forward by the waves of pure bliss that were emanating from Dave, and he thumbed happily at the goosebumps that he provoked. When he leaned back to kiss him again Dave welcomed him by cradling his jaw in his hands like it was something precious, and smiling against his lips, letting himself be lost in the contact, happier than he had been in years.

Deep down, he was afraid that the happiness would at one point dissipate, that it would disappear and wear out, but it never did. Even in the days when everything went wrong- when it rained, there was traffic, and had a bad day at work- the underlying knowledge that even after everything he was coming home to Klaus, to his soft smiles and warm kisses, never failed to put his heart at peace.

Klaus seemed to share his feelings too, or at the very least feel a facsimile of them. He would say it to himself sometimes late at night, letting himself indulge in his little romantic fantasies of the two of them, but it became clear a couple of months into their relationship. He had just fallen asleep in his bed, which unfortunately was devoid of Klaus, as he had just gotten off a long shift and they still didn’t live together, when he was woken up by a sudden banging on his front door. The doctor in him immediately jumped to attention, fearing a medical emergency, while the rational person in him swore and complained all the way to the door.

Once there, he threw it open in a haze, because apparently he had no self-preservation left in him, and he blinked in the sudden light of the hallway. It took a while before his eyes finally adjusted to the unexpected brightness but when they did he realized that Klaus was standing in front of him, dishevelled, shaken, and breathing heavily, “Klaus, what-“

“I am so, so sorry,” Klaus cut in, voice raspy like someone who had just woken up, much like Dave, “I- I know you just got off of work and you’re working again tomorrow but I just had… a _terrible_ nightmare and I needed to make sure you were alright.”

The words came rushing all at once, desperate and nervous, and Dave only caught bits and pieces of them, “You had a nightmare?”

Klaus swallowed thickly, looking even more desperate. Dave didn’t like that look one bit and was filled with a sudden intense urge to stop whatever had caused it, “I know it’s stupid, and I’m sorry, but it was really, really bad and I just needed to make sure nothing had happened to you.”

The last part was spoken quieter and quieter, as Klaus was obviously embarrassed by it, and Dave shook his head. Through the haze of having just woken up, he pulled Klaus inside, and immediately closed the door behind him to cut out that awful light. The were sighed audibly once he was in the flat with him, breathing in and probably letting Dave’s scent soothe him, and Dave turned on a smaller light to see him better, “Klaus, there’s nothing to apologize for, that’s-“ the few brain cells he had left in his head seemed to finally manage to hold hands and form a coherent thought and a sudden rush of shock overcame him, “Wait, what time even is it?”

“Three am,” Klaus fidgeted under his gaze, embarrassed, and for a second it looked like he was going to do a full 180 and leave the flat just as quickly as he had entered it, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t-“

“Shit, how did you get here?” he looked Klaus over, unsure of what he was supposed to be finding. He didn’t drive a car, and he was also pretty sure the subway didn’t run this late at night, which only left one possible option-

“I, uh, I ran.”

Klaus’s answer was sheepish, as if he was still worried about being a bother to Dave, while Dave himself was completely floored by it. He _ran_. He woke up from a nightmare involving him and the first thing he did was start running to his flat, which was a good twenty minutes drive away from him. He thought Dave might have been in danger and wanted to check on him so he _ran_.

Not knowing what to say, Dave reached over to Klaus, crushing him against his chest in a tight hug, and the were immediately hugged him back, desperate. He pressed his nose into his shoulder, breathing in heavily, and his shoulders sagged in relief, finally starting to calm down, “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

They stumbled to the bedroom, Klaus too shaken to let go of Dave and him too tired to properly pay attention to where he was walking, and there was really no question about the were spending the night. In fact, he immediately went for the right side of the bed, the one where he had slept last time he spent the night there, and he did so with such nonchalance that Dave had to clear his throat to get rid of the sudden knot that formed there.

Then, Klaus started doing something… odd. He didn’t notice at first, just heard him shuffle on his side of the bed, and thought he was simply settling on it, but when he didn’t cuddle closer to him and just kept moving he frowned, opening his eyes. He held himself up on an elbow and squinted, trying to see what exactly he was doing, and he immediately smiled when he realized what was going on.

Klaus was very carefully and attentively fluffing up all of his pillows and fixing his blanket in a clear resemblance of a circle around the two of them. He didn’t seem to be aware that he was doing so, he had the same expression of someone getting ready for bed at night, nothing out of the ordinary going on, and Dave tried to keep in his laugh as he observed him. It was when he went to fluff up Dave’s pillow that he paused, only then realizing that he was looking at him, “What?”

His tone was worried, apparently still too shaken to see the humour in the situation, so Dave immediately reached out for him, “Babe, are you…” he gave Klaus a little pause to swoon at the pet name as he tried and failed to find a word to properly express what he was witnessing, “Are you nesting?”

Klaus blinked, and Dave could almost see the wheels turn in his brain. Then, he pulled his hand away from Dave’s touch, mock-scandalized, “Did you just compare me to a _bird_?”

“Not necessarily, it’s just…” he nodded to Klaus’s craftsmanship, letting it do the talking. The were followed his line of sight and seemed only then to realize what he had been doing. When he turned back he was blushing slightly, and Dave wanted nothing more than to kiss his flushed cheeks until he fell asleep.

“I... don’t know why I did that…” it seemed to be his general reaction to anything odd that he did that involved Dave, and he wondered just how much of his wolf’s behaviour he had never witnessed before, too tampered and repressed by social biases to be allowed to simply exist, “It just looks better this way. Safer.”

Dave hummed, not really knowing what to reply to that. If Klaus felt the need to fluff up a couple of pillows who was he to oppose it? Speaking of which, Klaus was now looking down and their hands, fidgeting with them, waiting for something, and it didn’t take long for Dave to realize what it was, “Do you want to do this side of the bed, too?”

Klaus’s face lit up for a second before it was overshadowed once more by embarrassment, “I don’t _have_ to.”

Dave sighed, already moving closer to the centre of the bed to give his boyfriend space to do his thing, “I thought we had already established that I’m on board with all of you, wolf included.”

It didn’t take long for Klaus to fix up his side, and once he was done he immediately curled closer to Dave, not one bit shy about nuzzling the nape of his neck. He already knew that he was going to have to wash his scent off before going to work but at the moment it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that his boyfriend was now in his arms, all safe in the little makeshift den he had just finished making for them, and his heart felt as if it could burst.

He kissed the top of Klaus’s head, marvelling at how he immediately purred at the contact, and he was so content that he let slip out, “Move in with me.”

Klaus’s thumb stilled where it was drawing little circles on Dave’s back, hands fisted in his shirt, and he lifted his head from his neck long enough to murmur, “Come again?”

He knew he had heard him perfectly well and was only asking to make sure he wasn’t incoherent and just babbling. Either that or he was giving him a way out of his own offer, to pretend that it never happened, which was very Klaus of him, “You should move in with me,” he let his hand trail slowly up and down his boyfriend’s back, thumbing his spine as he went and making silent promises to himself to check that it didn’t stick out more than it already was, “I want you to.”

Klaus breathed out shakily, and his skin chilled at the sudden rush of air. It was slightly moist from where he had been resting his lips in a soft kiss, which only made him shiver more, “This is, what, the second time I sleep over, and I showed up at three in the morning and messed up your bed immediately.”

“Third time, actually. You fell asleep while watching that movie the other day and I’m counting it,” he let his hand lazily caress his boyfriend’s back, and let a sigh of relief when he arched into his touch. A part of him had been terrified that they weren’t on the same page and that his proposal wasn’t going to be welcome, so he was glad to see Klaus seemed to be opposing it simply because he was Klaus, “And you wouldn’t have shown up here at three in the morning if we lived together.”

“I still would have messed up your bed.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered because it would have been your bed, too.”

Klaus huffed like he couldn’t find anything to say against that. He pondered it over for a moment as he kissed Dave’s neck in thought, and he was just about to fall back to sleep under his soft brushes of lips when he murmured, ever so quietly, “You’d get tired of me.”

Dave hummed, not even bothering to open his eyes. He smothered Klaus closer to him, rubbing his cheek against his hair and realizing he had done so only when the were chuckled softly, “ _You_ ’d get tired of me.”

“Now that doesn’t make any sense-“

“See? It’s stupid, isn’t it?” he leaned back, so that he could look Klaus in the eye, and wasn’t surprised to see that Klaus was a bit reluctant to. He never liked any sort of conversation that involved sharing his feelings and emotions, but he had gotten progressively better at it, and that’s all that mattered, “I would love nothing than to have you here, if you want to. You don’t have to give me an answer now, I just-“

“I want to.”

Klaus’s reply was soft but sure, and after a bit of hesitation he finally looked up to him. He couldn’t actually see him properly, it was too dark to, but he could see the glint of his eyes, illuminated by the street lights. He made sure to try and hold eye contact, knowing that the were could see him perfectly, and could read every single one of his emotions while he couldn’t, “Do you remember when I first came here, and I said your bed smelled like you? And you joked about how you couldn’t wait for it to smell like me too?” he moved imperceptibly closer, and his tone dropped a couple of octaves, an adorable sign that he was flustered, “I know that was cheesy as fuck but I want that, I really do.”

Dave couldn’t help but smile, his heart being so full of love for him that he wasn’t sure how it could still fit in his ribcage, “Okay.”

Klaus breathed out. It looked like he wasn’t the only one terrified of not having his feelings requited, “Okay.”

“Okay.”

A pointy finger poked into his side and he yelped, doing absolutely nothing to move away from it, “Dave, we’re two grown gay men, this isn’t a John Green book.”

“Sorry,” he sneaked his hand around until he could find the accusing finger, and pulled it towards him so that he could lace their hands together. He smiled like an idiot at the feeling of them, and smiled even more when he remembered Klaus could see it, “I love you.”

With a sigh, the werewolf cuddled closer, taking up his space nuzzled into his neck once more. He leaned up to kiss the side of his throat, and let his free hand sneak under Dave’s shirt, leaving it there as a comforting touch, “I love you too.”

He never would have thought, as a young underpaid doctor working twelve consecutive hours on average, with almost no friends and no prospect of any sort of change, but things started coming together in his life. Klaus moved in with him, and the two of them clicked together so well he sometimes wonders how he ever managed to fall asleep before without having Klaus beside him in bed. He collected all of his notes on lycanthropy he had written during his period of forced-but-not-really friendship with Klaus and decided to present a study on it, in an effort to improve the healthcare they offered to werewolves. He introduced his friends to Klaus, and they all had a good laugh when Klaus and Hazel both froze at the first sight of each other, before continuing on like nothing ever happened. His work got recognized, and soon he was asked to start working on a ward specifically created to train young residents to properly learn and understand lycanthropy, to make sure other cases like Klaus’s were solved as quickly as his had. Klaus introduced him to his family, and his myriad of siblings, and he silently but surely became an official part of their pack, something that still made him blush even now, years later.

If he stopped to think about it, at how it all started simply because a certain werewolf had shown up at the right place and the right time to be tended to by a certain doctor who just happened to be on shift that day, he had to take a moment to breathe at how exhilarating it all was.

He looked down at Klaus, sprawled on top of him, fast asleep, and he smiled. He could barely make him out, all pressed against his chest as he was, snuggled under the blanket he had throw himself onto Dave with, and all he could see was the messy mop of his head. A few grey hairs stood out, and he thumbed them gently with a soft smile. They had both started getting them at the same time, about five years into their life together- the stress of being a doctor and being a werewolf apparently matching up- and the sight had been nothing but ecstatic for them both. They were living, and they were doing it together.

He tried to kiss the top of Klaus’s head, but he was too heavy to be able to move, so he just kissed his open palm before settling it onto his hair, caressing it gently, and closed his eyes in contentment. They had just finished eating and were waiting for the full moon to hit, and Klaus had decided to try and take a nap before it did. Turning had always tired him out but the older he got the more exhausted he became the next day, so they were starting to find little ways to make it easier on him- and really, Dave couldn’t be happier.

The sun was beginning to set when Klaus finally stirred, murmuring something unhappy against Dave’s chest. He then seemed to get his bearings, sighing loudly, and fisted the front of Dave’s jumper, unhappy, “It’s starting?”

“Yeah,” his voice was already rough, a clear sign that his body was getting ready to turn. After fighting with himself for a couple of seconds he sat up, their blanket falling off his shoulders and pooling around his waist, and buried his face in his hands, groaning. Dave rubbed his back in sympathy, knowing that there was nothing he could do but stay there with him through it all.

Klaus didn’t pull away from his touch but rather leaned into it, and even nuzzled back into his chest when Dave sat up with him. It was a stark contrast from their very first full moon, when the were spent the little time they had before it pacing his flat anxiously and avoiding his touch like the plague, and it never ceased to make Dave smile. Klaus had gotten so used to his presence that he always sought out his touch, and even before the full moon he only rarely lamented being oversensitive to it. It had simply been a matter of getting used to one another, and he loved that Klaus trusted him enough to let his guard down, and not feel remotely threatened by his presence.

“Want me to make you a hot water bottle?” he asked, rubbing a certain spot on Klaus’s back with more insistence, getting a long sigh in return. The moon hadn’t been any forgiving on Klaus’s part, and the older he got the more aches and pains he would start feeling. The most recent one had to do with the muscles in his lower back, and last time around they had ended up aching so much that they spent the following morning in bed, Klaus clinging to a hot water bottle like a lifeline and Dave trying to massage the pain away.

“Maybe tomorrow, I wouldn’t want Balto here to think it’s a toy,” he spoke the words with a certain level of amused disdain. His innate dislike for his wolf hadn’t dissipated through the years, but Dave’s constant presence seemed to have set him somewhat at ease, proving that that wasn’t enough to drive him away and that he had nothing to fear.

“Balto was a dog, you’re a wolf,” Dave commented, cheek pressed against Klaus’s head. He was shaken by a sudden body shiver that left him hissing in pain, and Dave shook along with him, “You’d be more of a Fang. Or a Wolfgang. Maybe even a Lobo.”

Klaus pulled away from him, sweaty forehead pulled into a frown, long enough to fix him with an unimpressed gaze, “Can you please refrain from comparing that bastard boy to cute video game characters?”

“You getting the reference only proves how much of a cute wolf you are, love,” Dave happily shot back, and laughed when Klaus pushed him away with a hand on his face. He stood up, stretching and groaning when he heard a couple of bones pop with the movement, and Dave was momentarily distracted by the glimpse of skin he got when his shirt rode up a fragment. Klaus noticed, and smirked.

With shaky hands, Klaus reached over to cup his face, looking down at him from his standing position. His thumb caressed his greying temples and he smiled, something wicked making a quick appearance in his eyes and his smirk. Dave only leaned further into his touch, “You are insufferable.”

“That’s not what you said last ni-“ as he had expected, he was promptly shut up by Klaus’s lips on his, and he let himself forget what he was even trying to say. His teeth were particularly sharp and he made a point to push a little harder into the kiss. He had stopped needing to reassure Klaus like this ages ago, they both knew he was on board with every little inhuman characteristic he had, and that he loved them to the moon and back, ironically enough, but he liked to point it out from time to time. Klaus smiled in the kiss, and he guessed he liked it too.

When he pulled back he tried to follow Klaus, chasing his mouth with closed eyes, and it was only when he touched his jaw, stopping him with a shaky hand, that he remembered where he was and what was going on, “-ight,” he blinked up at Klaus, and reached up to grab his wrist from where his hands were still cupping his face. He caressed the skin there, and the were had another full-body shiver, “You shouldn’t interrupt people, it’s rude.”

“Yada yada,” Klaus unhelpfully replied. He did pull back then, which did _not_ make Dave pout, and reached for his own left hand with his right. He toyed with the ring there for a second before pulling it off, handing it to Dave carefully, as if afraid that it would crumble in his hands, “Here, have this before White Fang breaks it.”

“He does have very large fingers,” he pondered it for a second, looking at the ring in his hands, gleaming under the setting sun. He pulled it on his ring finger, along his own wedding band, and wiggled his fingers at the familiar feeling, “And for the record, that’s another wolf dog you mentioned. I don’t have any other to offer as an alternative, I’m afraid.”

“That’s why you aren’t fit to be a werewolf,” his husband replied, patting his head amiably before heading for what once used to be his studio but that had soon become Klaus’s den for the full moon. They still used it as a supply closet, but from what he had gathered from Klaus’s expression the room held too many bad memories to truly be anything else.

Dave watched him go, chest oddly tight. Regardless of what Hazel still thought, Klaus completely trusted Dave when it came to his wolf- he didn’t think it, Klaus himself had told him so, in one of his few moments of emotional sobriety when he felt brave enough to actually talk to him about it- and had gotten so used to having him beside him during the full moon that he now lamented that his wolf was unhappy whenever he wasn’t there, but with that being said he still categorically didn’t want him anywhere near him during the actual turning. Seeing it once when barely awake had been enough to scar him for a lifetime, so Dave understood where he came from, but he still wished that he could do more for him during those painful times.

He probably had been thinking quite loudly because quick as a fox Klaus was suddenly back, tilting his head up for a quick kiss. He smiled, then smiled even more when he saw Dave’s surprised expression, “I love you.”

Dave’s breath faltered, as it did whenever Klaus said those words, “I love you too.”

Another quick kiss, no doubt to try and cover the obvious uneasiness that had been surrounding Dave, and Klaus was gone once more, leaving him to stare at the now-closed door like a lost puppy- or wolf-dog, depends on who you ask.

He kept himself busy settling up their couch for the night- the wolf insisted on sleeping beside him, either by an instinct of pure protectiveness or because of Klaus’s influence on him, and Klaus categorically didn’t want him on the bed, so he had settled for sleeping on the couch with him rather than leave him alone- and just as he was about to sit down he heard the door budge in its frame under the tell-tale push of the wolf behind it, and a wide smile appeared on his face.

In a couple of quick strides he was at the door, opening it with such ease and naturalness that he was sure he would have given his past self a near heart attack, and his smile only widened when the wolf tiptoed out, his graceful and silent feet unable to hide the obvious joy painted on his face.

His dark fur gleamed under the dim light (he was sure it would glow if it could be exposed to the direct moonlight) and even there he could see reflected the few grey hairs that Klaus exhibited, which made his heart ache painfully. His eyes were sharp as ever, and they wouldn’t leave Dave, visibly happy to see him and trying to soak up as much as him as he could. That peculiar softness in his eyes, the one clearly belonging to Klaus, was there as always, looking back at him with obvious pointed interest, and Dave knelt down, holding his gaze. Much unlike a wolf, Klaus wagged his tail, and tiptoed closer to Dave, having absolutely no qualms about invading his personal space. He stuck his nose into his hair, breathing deeply, and Dave pushed his muzzle away, laughing at the ticklish sensation.

Heart full of love, Dave then did something that he would never tell any other soul outside of that room for anything in the world. He cupped his hands around his mouth, sitting back with his legs stretched out in front of him, and howled. It was a habit he had recently picked out and that he found oddly comforting. He couldn’t explain what exactly compelled him to do it, but he had shared it with Klaus, too, just to make sure that the were was okay with it, and to his surprise his husband had seemed close to tears, throwing himself at him to kiss him until he forgot what even he was talking about. From then on, he started doing it every full moon, as if trying to awake Klaus’s consciousness inside of the wolf with it, and the wolf himself always seemed pleased with it.

Klaus whined at the sound, evidently ecstatic, before he threw his head back and howled along with him. His howl was much more harmonious, it was a voice that was meant for that sound, whereas Dave was merely trying to parrot it, and it pulled at something deep inside of his chest. He couldn’t explain why, but oddly enough, it felt like home. He knew that’s what the wolf felt, too, after all in his terms Klaus and Dave were mates, a pack, but it certainly had been surprising when he felt that strong of an emotion the first time around.

His howl died out after a few seconds, sheepishly running out of breath, and the wolf let its own trail off as well, evidently not finding the point in it if Dave wasn’t right there with him. His eyes were sparkling, everything about him radiating happiness in palpable waves, and with a cheerful little snap of his teeth he walked off, further into the room, gracefully stepping over Dave’s legs. He only got a couple of meters away before he turned, looking back at him with a kind, open gaze that no doubt belonged to Klaus, whereas the need to have Dave by his side, to keep one eye on him even when there was no threat whatsoever, was intrinsically the wolf's.

With a soft exhale, Dave stood, making his way to the wolf, and only when he was by his side did he move, matching his pace instinctively, as if he had always been meant to. Something in Dave told him that he was, just as much as something deep in his own chest told him to follow. Their rings gleamed under the pale moonlight where they were resting atop of the wolf’s head, and he smiled at their sight. He would always follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand that's a wrap on that, folks! Thank you so much for sticking with me through it all! :') I hope you guys had as much fun reading this as I had writing it, and thank you so much to everyone who gave me feedback through it all, you guys are the best and I hope you have a wonderful day!
> 
> I'll see y'all next time, until then be good, your werewolf romance is somewhere out there waiting for you :')


End file.
